Life Without You
by aimeelou
Summary: Bella and Jacob have been dating since Bella moved to Forks 2 years ago, but Bella breaks up with him after he's caught cheating... Can Edward help her through it? AH BxJ BxE Rated M for language DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight! Stephenie Meyer does!
1. Chapter 1

I stood chatting with Jessica and Angela in the crowded room, I could barely hear them over the music pounding in my ears. I think the entire teenage population of Forks was attending this party. It was the end of the school year and Lauren always threw a huge party to celebrate. Ever since I moved to Forks 2 years ago, I'd always come along with Jessica, Angela and Jake. Jake came with me even though he went to school down on the rez. After I'd finished talking with the girls I wandered around the house looking for Jake. I bumped into a few of my friends from school. Mike and Eric were chugging beer; Alice and Rosalie were hanging out on a sofa with Jasper, Emmett and Edward; who waved at me. I walked over to Edward.

"Hey" I shouted. "Have you seen Jake? I can't find him." I perched on the arm of the sofa, taking a handful of chips from a bowl on the coffee table. He shook his head.

"Not since you both came in." he smiled at me.

"Okay, thanks" I said, smiling back and getting up. I walked out of the French doors which lead into the huge back garden. I walked around the large pool, across the grass and back around to the front door and walked in again. No sign of him, so I climbed the stairs. Lauren's house wasn't small; it had 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus a couple of spare rooms used as studies or whatever. I checked each one, knocking on the door and pushing it open to find most of them empty. I finally came to Lauren's bedroom. I knocked on the door; I could hear laughing from inside then someone shouted for me to come in. Not wanting to interrupt anyone, I quickly pushed the door open and poked my head around, only to be greeted by Lauren lying on her bed with Jake. He turned around to face me once Lauren stopped giggling. I stared at him, looking right into his eyes; trying not to let the tears flow from my own. I slammed the door and ran down the stairs, bumping into a few people along the way. I kept running, even though I could hear people shouting at me and swearing after I knocked their drinks on the floor. I didn't care; I just needed to get out of this house.

As soon as I got outside, and the fresh air hit me; the hysterics came. I couldn't breathe, and tears were flowing down my face. I tried to calm down, focusing on the beat of my heart, but that didn't help. I could hear her sickly sweet laughter ringing in my ears, which bought on a new wave of tears. I found my truck, jammed the key in the door and pulled it open then threw myself onto the seat. I sat for a moment; Charlie would kill me if I crashed. I leaned back on the worn leather seat and closed my eyes, trying to clear my head. After sitting quietly on my own for ten minutes or so, I heard a soft tapping on my window. I opened my eyes to find Edward Cullen standing next to my truck. I wound the window down, and with my free hand wiped any tears away.

"Hey" I said, faking a smile... I don't think he fell for it.

"I saw you run out of the party, what's up?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I was friends with Edward, but not particularly close, I'd much rather talk to Alice, Jessica, Angela or even Riley about it.

"I...uh..." I could feel the tears filling up again as I thought of them lying on the bed together, what they were going to do, what they might have already done. "Jake...and..." I couldn't bring myself to say her name. Edward pulled the door open and I scooted along so he could sit with me. I wasn't used to being this close to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. I could feel his muscular chest through his cotton t-shirt.

"Bella, you know you can tell me anything." He said, squeezing me lightly. "I won't tell anyone, you know that; not even Alice." He chuckled. I pulled myself together and turned to face him.

"Well, after I finished talking to you I went upstairs to look for Jake, and...and...He was with Lauren... on her bed, all over her." I said quickly, as if that made the pain any less. I saw his face change then. First sympathy, then to worry then right to anger.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry." He squeezed me a little tighter before trying to take the key that was clenched into my fist. "Want me to drive you home?" I nodded before handing over the key. He drove too fast for my ancient truck. It was making noises I'd never heard it make before.

Charlie was already asleep by the time Edward and I pulled up in front of the house. I scooted along to the other side of the cab and opened the door and hopped out. Edward got out and gave me the key back.

"How are you going to get home?" I asked him as we stood outside my front door.

"I'll call Emmett, don't worry about me. Look, you have my number if you wanna talk. 'Kay?" he flashed his infamous crooked grin at me and pulled his phone out of his pocket, before pulling me into a hug and walking back down the path.

Today, I had plans to go to Seattle with Riley. He wanted to go out for lunch seeing as we didn't get to see each other much since he left for college. So I got up, ignoring my vibrating phone, which was flashing a name I didn't want to see and showered before going downstairs to face Charlie. He was sitting at the table reading the sports pages of the newspaper.

"Morning Bells." He said looking up and smiling at me. I grabbed milk from the fridge and the cereal from the shelf and poured some in a bowl. "How was the party last night?"

"Hey Dad." I ate a spoonful of cereal so I could gather my thoughts and give an answer that wouldn't send Charlie into a panic. "It was good...you know, the usual." I said trying to stop the events from last night slip back into my mind. Charlie got up and folded the paper.

"Got any plans today?" he asked as he stuck some bread in the toaster and grabbed a plate from the cupboard.

"Riley's taking me to Seattle for lunch and probably a movie. What about you? Going fishing with Harry?" Charlie nodded and told me to say hey to Riley for him. I went back upstairs to get my things ready and lay on my bed to wait for Riley. When I heard the honk of a car horn I hopped up to look out of the window. I saw him sitting outside in his car, and I ran out of my bedroom grabbing my stuff and saying a quick goodbye to Charlie before running out of the front door and jumping in to his car.

"BELLA!" he shouted at me, leaning over to my side of the car to hug and kiss me.

"I've missed you so much Riley, Charlie has aswell, and he said to say hey." I said pulling out of the hug and smiling at him.

"We have so much to catch up on Bella. I missed you too. Anything exciting happen in Forks while I was away?" He asked me as he pulled away from my house.

"Exciting...in Forks, you are kidding right?" I chuckled. "Only bad things happen in Forks, Riley; you of all people should know that." Before Riley moved away to college, his high school sweetheart Victoria, cheated on him with his best friend, James.

"Nothing bad happened to you, I hope." He said. I didn't want to tell Riley, because he always told me Jacob was bad news. I just looked out of the window and watched the green flash by as Riley drove us out of town.

"Well the awkward silence tells me all I need to know... What did Jacob do?" he said, keeping his eyes focused on driving.

"Nothing...Don't worry about it." I muttered; I'm pretty sure Billy Black would like his son left in one piece.

"I'll find out somehow Bells, make it easier for both of us and just tell me, please." The memories came flooding back and I couldn't stop them. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, and before I knew it I was hysterical all over again. Riley stopped the car and demanded that I tell him what happened. After finally blurting out what happened that night, Riley got out of the car. I waited a little while before getting out.

"Riley...Can we ju-" I started.

"No Bella, how many fucking times are you going to take his shit?" he shouted at me. He was beyond angry now. I didn't want to lose one of my closest friends over this aswell, so I got back in the car without another word. Five minutes later, Riley finally got back in the car.

"Sorry, I just don't like seeing you get hurt. I care about you too much Bella." He said, barely above a whisper.

"I know." I muttered.

"We'll go get lunch, and we can talk it over properly, okay?" he said, lifting the tone of his voice slightly. I nodded and pulled the car from the side of the road and set out for Seattle again.

**So, I hope you like the first chapter :D As you can see, Riley and Bella's relationship is completely non-book based lol. Anyway... Chapter 2 should come pretty soon. I'm starting it right after I post this! ****J**


	2. Chapter 2

Riley took me to our favourite Italian restaurant in Seattle. When we were looking at the menu I told him what happened at the party, and afterwards when Edward drove me home and told me to call him.

"Edward who?" He asked me. "Cullen..." I muttered as I tore apart a bread roll.

"Cullen...that name sounds familiar." I laughed at him.

"You know you've only been gone to college a year and you forgot our very own Doctor Cullen? Also Mrs Cullen who owns the store up by the diner? ALSO, Emmett Cullen who used to beat you at football even though he's younger then you..."

"Oh that Edward Cullen." I burst with laughter this time round, and Riley blushed. Changing the subject slightly, he carried on.

"So did you call him?"

"Not yet, it was only last night Riley." I stuffed part of the bread roll in my mouth, hoping that the fact I was eating would stop his questioning about Edward. The waitress came over to take our orders and went away again. I changed the subject to Riley's college life and how things were with him. As we ate our meals, my phone started ringing; for once flashing a name I didn't mind seeing. I excused myself from the table and walked out of the restaurant.

"Hey Dad, what's up?" I asked.

"Bells, Jacobs here..." shit, shit shit shit. I hope he didn't say anything to Charlie.

"What does he want? I can't leave Riley to come home"

"He wants to talk to you Bella... he looks pretty upset about something." What does HE have to be upset about? "Do you want me to pass the phone over to him?"

"NO CHARLIE! I mean...Dad, no...Riley's waiting for me in the restaurant. I've gotta go." I hung up without letting him say another word. I walked back to our table to find Riley flirting with the waitress. I chuckled as she walked away smiling, putting a piece of paper in her trouser pocket.

"Nice Riley... there was me thinking you wanted to spend time with your dear old friend Bella, but really you wanted to hook up with some girl!" I laughed again.

"Shut up" he flashed a smile at me. "Who was on the phone?" He asked, putting his wallet away.

"Charlie..." I muttered. I didn't want to bring Jacob up again. We left the restaurant and went to the cinema. We watched some action movie I didn't really get into but Riley seemed to enjoy it. After that it was getting pretty late so we decided to head home. We pulled up to my house. I went to get out of the car, but Riley grabbed my arm.

"You should call Edward..." he said, smiling at me.

"I will. Will you come over for dinner tomorrow? Charlie would love to see you." I asked.

"Sure. Around 8pm? I've got something to do tomorrow." He sounded quiet menacing when he said that. I nodded and got out of the car. I waved goodbye as he drove off.

I walked in the front door calling out to Charlie to let me him know I was home. I hung my coat up and turned towards the stairs when I saw someone sitting in the kitchen, staring at me.

"Jacob, what are you doing here?" I tried to sound cheery; I didn't want to alarm Charlie.

"Charlie said I could stay. I need to talk to you Bella." He said, getting out of his chair. Charlie was looking at us from his armchair in the living room. I walked back over to the front door, and grabbed my coat and opened the door.

"Not here Jacob." I said walking outside. I heard Jacob tell Charlie we were going for a walk together before I heard the door click shut.

"What the hell do you think you're doing coming to my house Jacob, really? The fact I've been ignoring your calls all day must have somehow hinted to you that I didn't want to speak with you." I said angrily, walking faster than I would have normally.

"Bella... I want to explain to you what happened." He sounded pathetic, I turned round to face him...he looked pathetic too. It started to rain, so I put my hood up.

"What makes you think I want to hear it Jacob. I saw you with... _her_ ...I think it's safe to say this relationship is over." I could feel the tears coming back. _No_ I thought to myself, _you are STRONG Isabella Swan. Do not cry in front of him._ It was no use; I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Don't cry Bella, please" he pleaded, reaching out to touch my arm, I just stared at him, flinching away from his touch. "I don't want you to be upset." I couldn't help but laugh at him then.

"Well, you shoulda thought about that before you were caught with Lauren..."I said, with a humourless laugh. I wanted to know why he did it, but I knew that if I asked him, I wouldn't like the answer.

"I wish I could take it back Bella... I lo-"

"DON'T JACOB. DO NOT SAY YOU LOVE ME." I turned to face him again, pointing my finger right in his pathetic, cheating face. "Do not say those fucking words to me after what you've done Jacob, or I swear to God I will punch you in the face." He knew it was an empty threat, but that didn't mean Charlie wouldn't do it if I told him what happened. I started walking back to my house, and he followed me again, like a little puppy dog.

"Please Bella, just hear me out." More pleading...I ignored him and carried on walking until I was outside of my front door.

"It's over Jacob...I don't want to see you ever again. Don't call, don't visit. Just don't bother coming here again." I said bitterly as I threw the door open and walked inside, slamming it behind me and putting the bolt across.

"Bells?" Charlie called out; I heard his chair creak as he stood up and walked into the hall. He looked at me, wearing a worried expression.

"I don't want to talk about it Dad. I'm going to bed." I said, hanging my coat up again, kicking my boots off and walking upstairs. I grabbed my bag of toiletries and headed to the bathroom. I looked at my face in the mirror; my eyes were puffy and red from crying and my hair was a mess. I put the shower on, letting the water heat up while I undressed. I stood under the hot water and let it loosen my muscles. I washed my messy hair with my favourite strawberry shampoo before the water finally got cold and I hopped out of the shower. I quickly dried myself off, leaving my hair wet and slipped my old sweatpants on with an old t-shirt Renee had bought for me. I went downstairs to say goodnight to Charlie, before going back into my bedroom. Once I was in my room I pulled my phone from my bag, I checked the time before I did anything... It was only 9.26pm, I wasn't ready to sleep yet, I had too much on my mind. I dialled a number into my phone and pressed the little green button.

"Hello?" A soft voice answered.

"Edward...its Bella, have you got some time to talk?" I asked

**Reviews = Love :D**

**Next: The phone call to Edward... also... Riley causes some trouble!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh hey Bella." He sounded surprised. "Sure, I've got plenty of time. How are you?" He asked me politely.

"Not so good, Jacob was here when I got back from Seattle this evening. We got in a huge fight." I told him. I was fidgeting with some paper on my desk, I don't know why but I was nervous talking to Edward.

"Ahh, what happened?" he asked.

"So, he was waiting in my kitchen when Riley dropped me off. He's lucky Riley didn't come in to say hey to Charlie because Riley hates Jacob... you should have seen Riley when I told him about the party. He flipped out. Anyway, I didn't want to talk about it in front of Charlie so I went for a walk with him." Edward didn't interrupt the whole time I was explaining everything. "And he said he wanted to explain what happened...like I didn't already know. Then he said he didn't want to see me upset. After that little joke...he began to say he loved me and that's when I lost it. I stopped walking and faced him, pointing right in his face and I uh...threatened him." when I finished speaking, all I heard was laughter.

"You threatened him? How?" Edward asked, still laughing.

"Edward...this is not funny. Don't laugh at me!" I protested, but he carried on laughing. "I told him that if he told me he loved me, then I would punch him right in the face..." I waited for Edward to stop laughing at me.

"You know what Edward; if I knew you were just going to laugh at me I wouldn't have bothered phoning you. I thought you were going to be helpful but I see that's not the case." I hung up, I was pissed off. I turned my phone off and threw it in my drawer before getting under my blanket and trying to sleep.

The next morning I woke up, I was still tired from lack of sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking of Jacob and then Riley, and then Edwards's stupid laughter. I threw my blanket off of me and got up to look at myself in the full length mirror which hung on the inside of my wardrobe door. My hair was a complete mess. I tried to drag a brush through it before pulling it back into a tidy ponytail. After brushing my teeth and dressing for work, I went back into my bedroom to turn my phone back on. I had 10 new text messages and 5 missed calls, most of them from Jacob, but I got a text and missed call from Edward. I also noticed I had a voice mail. I deleted all the texts and missed calls from Jacob, chances are I didn't want to read whatever he wrote to me. I opened the text from Edward.

"_**I'm sorry! Please call me back"**_

Then I played the voice message

"Bella... its Edward. Please call me back, I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh at you... I just couldn't imagine you threatening anyone... let alone Jacob Black... Please just call me back."

I shoved my phone in my bag and went downstairs. Charlie had already left for work. I grabbed a cereal bar from the cupboard, scoffing it down, followed by a glass of cold milk. I walked out the front door to find another gloriously rainy day in Forks. I hurried to my truck, wanting to stay as dry as possible. After arriving at Newton's Sporting Goods, I quickly got inside and found Mike talking to his mom about something.

"Hey Bella!" he said, waving at me with a huge smile on his face. I reciprocated the smile and walked out to the back of the shop to get my vest on.

The hours passed slowly, and we had barely any customers today. That was until Paul came in. Paul was one of Jacobs's best friends. I wondered idly what he was doing here. He stormed right up to the till I was standing at. He looked really angry.

"Bella...I need a word with you. Right now." He said, sounding as angry as he looked.

"Paul I'm working. Cant it wait?" I said timidly. I could see that only made him angrier.

"No, it can't fucking wait Bella." I looked at him, then to Mike, who was staring at us. I walked over to him and told him I was taking a break. I looked back at Paul and motioned to him to go outside. I walked out of the door and regretted it immediately.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING BELLA?" he shouted at me. He was so close I could feel his breath on my face. I must have looked confused cause he carried on. "DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT." I backed away slightly.

"Paul, I DON'T know what you're talking about." I said, slightly scared of him. He didn't usually get mad at me. That seemed to throw him off a little. He stepped back and looked towards the parking lot. He was taking deep breaths.

"Bella... look in my car. What do you see?" he said, still trying to calm down. I searched the lot for his car, when I finally found it I was horrified.

"Is that... Is that Jacob?" I gasped. There was someone sitting in the passenger side of Paul's car, beaten black and blue. I walked towards the car, as I got closer I recognised that it definitely was Jacob. I gasped again in horror. I turned to face Paul again. "What happened to him?" My eyes were wide with horror as I asked him.

"This morning, your dear friend Riley decided to pay a visit to the reservation." He sneered, getting angry again. "Jake was running on the beach and Riley came up behind him and started hitting him, punching and kicking anywhere he could." RILEY did this? Fuck, he was in big fucking trouble now. I didn't need to hear anymore, I ran back into the shop and out the back where my bag was stored. I rummaged around my bag, searching for my phone. I eventually found it and dialled Riley's number.

"Hey Bells, what's up?" he asked, cheerily.

"DONT YOU FUCKING WHAT'S UP ME RILEY BIERS! Get your fucking ass to Newton's, right now." I hung up. I was furious. How dare he do that to Jacob. No matter how much I resented Jacob for what he's done, I wouldn't have asked anyone to do this to him.

I sat at my till waiting for Riley, I was glad that no customers came in today. I was too angry to deal with them. When he finally arrived I stormed outside, Paul had gone back to his car. Riley went to hug me, but I backed away.

"How dare you Riley. How fucking dare you." Paul had gotten out of his car and was walking towards us. I didn't want him to fight with Riley. "Go back to your car Paul, I've got this." I told him.

"Bella, what are you talking about?" Riley stared at me, bewildered.

"Jacob...what did you do to Jake, Riley?" Paul didn't go back to his car, he just watched as I got angrier at Riley. I closed my eyes and waited for his answer.

"Oh that... He fucking deserved it Bella and you know it!" my eye snapped open.

"Yeah, he did... But you know I didn't want you to get involved in all of this Riley..."

"Jacob's already told Charlie" Paul said quietly. My head snapped to face him

"You're joking right?" I asked, he shook his head. _Oh fuck_. "Paul! Why did you let him do that?" Charlie was going to go fucking crazy. I put my head in my hands for a moment. I couldn't deal with all of this.

"Paul isn't my dad Bells." I lifted my head at the sound of the new voice that joined our discussion. Jacob stood in front of me, his face covered in purple bruises, his lip and eyes were all puffed up. I gasped again at the sight of his face close up. He looked terrible.

"Jake, I'm sorry Riley did this."

"He deserves anything he fucking gets." Riley said as he walked back to his car.

"Riley, come back" I pleaded

"No Bella, cause it's going to be the same fucking SHIT over again. Like the time you caught him with Leah... you took his sorry ass back then, and you're going to make the same mistake again. I'm sick of him hurting you Bella. I'm fucking sick of it."

"Riley... please." Here came the tears. "Please, just...come back" I was too late he was already driving off. I wiped my tears away on the sleeve of my jumper, and turned around.

"He's right, I'm such a doormat. You know what Jacob. Fuck off. And take Paul with you. I'm sick of your bullshit. Leave me alone." I stalked back into Newton's. Mike was sitting in the office talking on the phone with someone. He saw me come in and hung up the phone. He came out of the office and walked towards me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking worried. I was sick people looking at me like that.

"I'm fine Mike... just looking forward to going home is all." I replied, sighing as I sat on the stool behind the till again.

"Edward Cullen called while you were outside... he asked me to tell you to call him back." He walked back into the office then, picking the phone up again. Edward fucking Cullen... great, he was now stalking me at work. What was it with the men in Forks? Jeez.

Work finally finished and I drove home, hoping Charlie had gone fishing with Harry. As I pulled up in front of the house, my hopes were crushed, as I saw his cruiser parked in the drive way. I parked my truck behind the cruiser and went inside.

"Hey Dad, you hungry?" I asked as I hung my coat and bag up. I walked into the kitchen, I heard Charlie grunt a yes to me. I must have woken him up. He walked sleepily into the kitchen and sat at the table. I grabbed a packet of spaghetti from the cupboard, and put some salted water on the hob to heat up.

"So, Jacob came into the station today. He looked pretty beaten up." Great, this is exactly what I needed.

"Yeah he came by work today with Paul. They mentioned they went down there." I said, acting as though I wasn't interested.

"He reported an assault Bells... He was assaulted by Riley." He said quietly, as if he didn't want to tell me.

"Yeah, he told me that too. I don't suppose he told you why Riley beat him up did he?" I asked as I turned to face him, leaning on the kitchen counter. Charlie nodded...which surprised me.

"He told me Riley had always had a grudge against him for some reason, and he just attacked him for no reason." I slammed my fist on the counter.

"FUCKING ASSHOLE."

"Excuse me, Isabella Marie Swan. I will not have you talk like that in this house!"

"Sorry Dad...it's just...Jacob was lying to you." I said. I hated liars.

"What? Jacob wouldn't do that Bella. Anyway, I could tell if he was lying, I am a cop you know." I rolled my eyes.

"Dad, Riley beat Jake up because I caught him cheating on me with Lauren at her stupid end of school party." I turned back around, throwing the spaghetti in the now boiling water. I grabbed a pot of spaghetti sauce from the cupboard and heated it up in the pan while I waited for Charlie to reply.

"Why...why didn't you tell me Bells?" He looked confused.

"I thought I could handle it Dad, but things have got a little outta hand..." I stirred the spaghetti around a little. Dinner was ready, so I served it up. We ate in silence; I wasn't really hungry I was too stressed out after the events at work. After we ate, Charlie offered to wash the dishes so I could get some sleep, so I walked upstairs and got changed. I wasn't tired enough to sleep... so I decided to call Edward back.

"Bella!" he sounded relieved.

"Hey..."

"I'm really sorry about last night." I rolled my eyes again.

"Yeah I got that... So, get this. Riley beat the shit out of Jacob." I told him, wanting to stop his incessant apologising.

"You're joking right?" he asked, it sounded like he wanted to laugh, but thought better of it.

"Nope" I said, popping the P. "A bunch of shit went down at work today. Jacob reported Riley down at the station, Paul shouted at me... Riley came down to Newton's I got in a fight with him and he stormed off. I'm just everyone's favourite person right now. Also, I think Charlie's pissed at me for not telling him about Jake." I sighed.

"Want me to come over?" that took me by surprise; I don't think Edward had ever been to my house before.

"Yeah" I said, surprising myself. "Do you even know where I live?" I asked.

"Alice knows. Give me 20 minutes." I heard the phone click as he hung up and then I was suddenly aware I looked like shit. I quickly threw on the jeans I'd been wearing before, and a clean shirt. I skipped downstairs to tell Charlie I had someone coming over, but he was already asleep, feet hanging over the end of the sofa. I decided to wait for Edward outside, so I sat on the step. Luckily the rain had let up.

Edward finally pulled up at the front of my house, and walked up to me. He looked at me, cocking one of his bushy eyebrows up.

"My Dad's asleep, I didn't want you to ring the bell and wake him." I explained as I stood up and turned the door knob. I crept in, Edward behind me. Charlie was snoring loudly now. We quickly went upstairs. I sat down on my bed, and Edward did the same.

"So, have you spoken to Riley since you got in a fight with him?" Edward asked, carrying on our phone conversation.

I shook my head. "No, I thought I should let him cool off. He was supposed to be coming for dinner tonight but he didn't..." I sighed. "I'll talk to him tomorrow I guess." I put my head in my hands. I felt the bed move, and then Edwards arm around my shoulder. I lifted my head up and looked at him.

"Don't worry about it. Call Riley tomorrow, and talk it out with him." he hugged me, and I felt a surge of energy flow through me; and I kissed him...

**Reviews are better than kissing Edward Cullen ;) **

**Next; Edwards reaction :D  
**


	4. Chapter 4

The kiss didn't last very long, before I realised what I was doing. I pulled back, I knew I was blushing; I could feel the heat in my cheeks. Edwards's eyes were wide open with shock. I pushed myself as far away from him as I could on my tiny single bed.

"Bella... Wh-" he started, but I interrupted him.

" I...I'm sorry, Edward! I don't know why I did that." I stuttered. I was suddenly very, very hot. He got up from my bed.

"It's getting late, I should probably go." He walked towards my bedroom door.

"Wait! I need to check Charlie is still sleeping" I crept downstairs, I could hear the TV, but I couldn't hear Charlie's snoring anymore. _Crap._ As I tried to creep back up the stairs, one of the steps creaked loudly. _Crap, crap, crap.___

"Bella?" Charlie called out. Edward was standing by my door, waiting for the all clear. I motioned for him to get back in my room, and then I turned around and walked into the living room.

"Hey dad, did I wake you up?" I leaned over the back of the sofa.

"No, I've been awake for a little while. What were you creeping around for?" he looked at me, raising one of his dark eyebrows.

"I needed a drink, I thought you were sleeping still..." I walked into the kitchen and poured 2 glasses of milk, and took them back to the living room; handing one to Charlie.

"Thanks. Look, Bella... you know I don't normally get involved with your...uh, love life." Oh no... I sat down next to him. I hoped Edward isn't listening to this.

"Yes, I like that... very much Dad." I said, looking at him suspiciously.

"Well... this whole thing with Jacob, I just... I just want you to know I'm going to turn a blind eye on the case. Jacob is lucky I'm a cop, and that Riley got to him first, or that boy would be in hospital." He put his arm around my shoulder, squeezing my lightly before taking it off again.

"Thanks dad..." I rested my head on his arm.

"You should get to sleep Bells. I'll see you in the morning." I got up, drank my milk in one gulp, before putting the glass in the sink and going back upstairs. Edward was sitting on my bed, flicking through one of the magazines that were piled up on my desk.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think he would be awake... How good are you climbing skills?" I asked, walking over to my window and opening it. Edward placed the magazine back on my desk before taking a look out of the window.

"Pretty good...I hope" he said as he grabbed the window ledge, pulling himself up on to it and balancing. He jumped across to the huge tree that was by my window. He grabbed the thick branch that was closest to the window and shimmied towards the tree trunk. He was almost at the bottom when he suddenly slipped and fell.

"Edward!" I gasped "Edward are you okay?" I was almost hanging out of the window. He was lying on his side, rubbing his ass. I burst into laughter. I swiped a magazine off my desk and dropped it out of my window. Edward looked at me like I was crazy. I ran out of the door and down the stairs, Charlie looked up at me.

"Where are you going?" he asked as I went towards the front door.

"I dropped something outta my window. I gotta pick it up before it gets wet" I said as I opened the door and ran around the side of the house; the wet grass was cold on my bare feet. Edward was lying there still, this time reading the magazine I dropped.

"Get up! You better go before Charlie comes out here!" I said, grabbing my magazine from him. He stood up, wiping the mud off of his jeans.

"I'll call you tomorrow... Just make sure you call Riley." He said to me before, walking down the road. I quickly went back inside, flashing the magazine at Charlie before rushing back upstairs. I threw the magazine back on my desk, and pulled my window shut. I changed back into my sweat pants and vest top before crawling under my blanket and falling into a dreamless sleep.

I had the day off today, so I was going to invite Riley over, and hopefully sort things out. Charlie was at work, so I had the house to myself. After I did some cleaning, I finally called Riley. I dialled his familiar number into the phone and waited for him to pick up.

"Hey Bells." he sounded like he just woke up.

"Hi... How are you?" I asked, not really knowing what to say.

"Hung over..." he said groggily.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked, timidly.

"Pretty much, but I need to get up anyway." I could hear him moving around his bedroom.

"So, do you fancy coming over and hanging out? You can stay for dinner, that way you get to see Charlie... then maybe we can talk about... last night." He didn't respond to me for a while, I was nervous in case he said no, and didn't wanna be my friend any more. "You can stay the night too... if you want to that is..." I added.

"Sure Bells. Give me an hour, 'kay?" he hung up and I sighed with relief, but now I had an hour to kill. I'd done all the cleaning, so I decided to read for a while so I grabbed my favourite book from the bookshelf; Wuthering Heights. My copy was so old and tattered. I sat on the sofa and flicked through the pages until I found where I had finished reading last.

When I heard a gentle tap on the door, I was shocked to realise the time had flown past so quickly. I threw my book down on the coffee table, it landed with a soft thud. I headed over to the door and opened it, relieved to see Riley standing on the other day. I was not, however, relieved to see that Riley had a black eye.

"What happened to you?" I asked, moving out of the way so he could come in from the torrential rain. He came in and took his coat off, shaking it slightly to get the water off.

"Bar fight, don't worry about it." He said, flashing a smile. He pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry about yesterday, and I'm sorry about Jacob, and I'm sorry I'm being a jerk about all of this when I'm supposed to be here for you." He let go of me, and I smiled at him.

"Don't apologise about Jacob. Yesterday I told him to fuck off, and the night before you beat him up we got in a huge fight. He was here when you dropped me off after we went to Seattle. Then I had to tell Charlie what happened because Jake reported you, and he was so pissed Riley, but he sided with you. He's not going to make anything of the report."

"Really?" he sounded surprised. "Charlie is awesome." He said, laughing.

"Charlie thinks Jake got off lucky. I think he's probably going to have it out with Billy at some point." I told him. We walked into the living room and put the TV on; although I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be watching it.

"So, did you call Edward?" he asked, flicking through the channels until he found one he liked.

"Yes...then I hung up on him..." I said, Riley looked confused. "Then I called him again last night; and he sneaked over when Charlie was asleep on the sofa. Then I did something very bad." He flicked his head around to look at me.

"What did you do Bella?" he asked, in a very serious tone.

"Uh, well... he was hugging me... to comfort me... you know." I started, nervous to carry on. Riley carried on staring at me. "Then I... I kissed him." I blushed. "Then Charlie woke up and Edward had to climb out of the window... then he fell out of the tree." I giggled.

"You kissed him? Wow, Bella you slut!" he said, laughing at me. I punched him.

"Shut up." I said, laughing with him. I was glad things were back to normal. "Are you hungry?" I asked as I got up from the sofa. I walked into the kitchen and heard Riley's footsteps behind me.

"Sure, whatcha got?" he pulled a chair away from the dining table and sat down. I pulled the cupboards open. They were almost empty, except for a few tins, some bread and a couple of cereal bars. I grabbed the cereal bars and threw one at Riley.

"I'll order pizza when Charlie gets home." I said as I pulled up a chair and sat with Riley.

"So...Edward Cullen eh?" he teased. I glared at him.

"Shut up Riley." The rest of the day went much the same, Riley teasing me about Edward, or talking about Jake. When Charlie finally arrived home; he looked stressed.

"Hey Dad," I said, getting up from the sofa. "Look who's here!" Riley stood behind me.

"Riley!" he grinned, before giving Riley a hug. "Good to see you kid!" Charlie went over to the living room with Riley, they started talking about work, college and other stuff so I went to order the pizza.

After I made the call, I sat down with them in living room, Charlie was in his armchair and Riley was on the sofa. They were watching some sports show.

"You're home late today Dad." I stated.

"I had to go see Billy about something..." he glanced at me, then at Riley then back to the TV. I could guess what that 'something' was.

"Dad..." I groaned. "Please tell me it wasn't about Jake." I glared at him.

"Don't worry Bella... its sorted now." He just kept looking at the TV.

"Ugh! What have you done?" I asked, getting frustrated.

"I just had a word with Billy. I told you it's nothing to worry about." I let it go for now. I was getting tired so I decided to get ready for bed. I got some bedding for Riley to use when he slept on the sofa. I said goodnight to them both and trudged upstairs. I lay in bed wondering what it was that Charlie had actually done.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of people arguing. I looked at my clock, 10.42am. I'd slept in. _Crap._ I got out of bed and went downstairs to see what all the noise was about.

"WELL IF JACOB DIDNT CHEAT ON BELLA THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING WOULD I?" Riley was shouting at someone. I sat on the bottom step, listening to the angry voices coming from the living room.

"Riley, there's no need to shout." I heard Billy's voice. What was he doing here? "Jacob told me what happened, he didn't cheat on Bella! I can't believe Bella's been telling all these lies." My mouth fell open, and I stood up and marched into the living room.

"Excuse me..." I said, glaring at Billy, who was with Paul and Jared; one of Jacobs other friends. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"I wanted to set things straight after Charlie came down to the reservation last night, accusing my Jacob of all sorts of things." I looked at Charlie, then to Paul and Jared, then back to Billy.

"And now you're here accusing me of lying. Tell me Billy, why would I make up a lie like that, about my own boyfriend?"

"I don't know Bella, but let's face it; you've always been a bit of an attention seeker." He smirked. That was it; I saw Riley move towards Billy but Charlie moved in front of him. I felt myself getting angrier and angrier each time Billy opened his mouth.

"Well, you clearly don't know me very well do you Billy, and it appears you don't know your own son too well either. Maybe he should be here, so you can finally hear the truth." I said, as I walked over to the phone in the kitchen, dialling Jacobs number, pushing the buttons much harder then I should have been. It didn't take long for Jake to answer.

"Bella?" he asked.

"My house, now." I demanded.

"What? Why?" he asked, confused.

"Just fucking come to my house Jake." I slammed the phone down, and walked back to the living room to find that Riley had gone. I looked at Charlie, and he looked upstairs. I let Riley calm down. It was probably better that he was upstairs when Jake came over anyway. The tension was unbearable. I'm sure you could cut the atmosphere with a knife as we waited for Jacob to arrive.

Finally there was a knock on the door. Charlie let him in. the house was too small to fit this many people in, the place was so crowded.

"What's going on?" Jacob asked, looking around at his dad and his friends, then to me and Charlie.

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**Next: Will Jake finally tell everyone the truth?**


	5. Chapter 5

"Don't you think you should tell us that Jacob?" Charlie said, sternly.

"What do you mean?" he was acting dumb.

"I think you know what we mean Jake..." I said. I didn't want to get any angrier, but just looking at him was making me wanna punch someone. "My dad knows, so maybe it's time you told the truth to the people who actually give a shit about you. Why did you cheat on me Jacob? And why the fuck are you lying about it to everyone?"

"I didn't cheat on you Bella." I could see the faint hint of a blush on his russet skin.

"So, making out with Lauren, at her party, on her bed... YOUR hands' touching her all over... that's not cheating huh? Well I'd hate to see what someone who was really cheating on their girlfriend looked like." I snapped. Jake sighed, looking at me. Billy and the others were looking at me like I was crazy.

"Okay... I did cheat on you" he threw his hands up in frustration. "But that doesn't mean I don't love you Bella!" I chuckled humourlessly.

"Don't start this again, just don't Jake." I looked at Billy; he looked shocked. "Believe me now Billy? Or is this me attention seeking still?" Paul and Jared were looking just as shocked as Billy. They were staring at Jake now. Billy whispered something to Paul and he turned his wheelchair around to face the door.

"Sorry to have bothered you." He said as Paul wheeled him outside, Jared following behind him. Jacob stood there hanging his head and followed them out. Charlie shut the door.

"I'm gonna go talk to Riley." I said, Charlie nodded and went to sit down in the living room. I opened my bedroom door and Riley was sitting on the edge of my bed, with his head in his hands. I sat next to him and put my arm over his shoulder.

"They're gone now." I muttered. "Jake came... he told the truth. Billy, Paul and Jared all looked pretty disappointed in him." He took his head out of his hands and hugged me.

"Promise me something Bella." He whispered in my ear. I nodded. "Don't go back to him, please. Go back to school, find someone who will treat you better, someone who will look after you when I'm not here."

"Promise." I said, pulling out of the hug and holding up my pinky finger, I giggled. He locked his pinky in mine, and hugged me again.

"I better get going; I'll talk to you later Bells." He said, kissing me on the cheek and getting up from my bed. After he left I got dressed, I realised Edward never called me last night like he said he would. So I grabbed my phone and called him.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey Edward."

"Bella! Sorry I didn't call last night. We had some family get together thing I wasn't told about. Our family came from Alaska." He explained.

"Don't worry about it, Riley came over and we sorted everything out." I told him.

"Oh good, hey listen... do you wanna come over to my house? Alice has been bugging me to see you, but I told her not to bother you. I didn't think you'd want her there being annoying when you were trying to patch things up with Riley." I laughed as I pictured Alice hovering around Edward, pestering him.

"Sure, but I don't know where you live..."

"I can come and get you" he offered. So that was that, Edward came to get me and I hung out at the Cullen's for the afternoon. Their house was beautiful, the back wall of the house was entirely made of glass, and you could see the forest and the lake which surrounded them. Alice, Edward and I hung out all afternoon; I told them what happened with Riley, Billy and Jacob.

The rest of my school break went like that; hanging out with Edward and Alice, shopping with Alice, movie nights at the Cullen's, up until the day before I was due to go back. I got a phone call from Jessica.

"Hey Bella, how's your school break been?" She asked. I felt guilty; I haven't seen my other friends since I started hanging out with Cullen's... well, since the party really.

"Hey Jess! It's been okay I guess. How's yours been?"

"It's been good! Shopping with Angela, that sorta stuff you know... my mom got a new job at Forks High though..." she didn't sound happy about that.

"Oh she did? What department is she teaching in?" I asked, although I never heard Jessica mention that her mom was a teacher before.

"She's not teaching, she's working in the office, with Mrs Cope. Mostly just admin stuff like registering students, stuff like that. She started today... she told me there's a new student starting tomorrow."

"Really? Who?" I asked, curious.

"Jacob..." I almost dropped the phone.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked, shocked.

"Uh, no... Aren't you excited?" she sounded confused.

"Not really Jess, we broke up at the start of school break..." I forgot that I didn't tell her. "I'm surprised Lauren didn't tell you all about it..."

"Lauren? Why would she know?" _shit,_ I didn't want to explain this all over again... I'd been working so hard to block the memory.

"She uh..." I started, taking a deep breath. "Jake cheated on me with her..."

"Oh Bella! Bella! I'm so sorry!" She was genuinely surprised, or at least she sounded it.

"Yeah..." I muttered. I didn't wanna carry on this conversation any longer. "I gotta go Jess... I'll see you tomorrow, okay." I said.

"Oh, okay. Bye Bella." She said, hanging up the phone. I went upstairs to my bedroom, and got my school things ready for the next day. I threw some textbooks into my rucksack, I was angry. Tomorrow as going to be even more unbearable then I'd originally thought. I slumped down on my bed and slammed my face into my pillows; then I screamed. I sat up again after a little while and searched for my phone. When I found it, I dialled Riley's number.

"Bella! Hey!" he said when he picked up.

"Hey Riley..." I didn't sound as upbeat as him.

"Oh no, what's up? What's Jake done now?" He asked. This boy knew me so well.

"He fucking moved school Riley... HE FUCKING MOVED TO FORKS HIGH." I shouted.

"Easy Bells, calm down." I heard him mutter something to someone else. "How do you know that he moved school?"

"Jessica's mom got a new job at Forks high, she told me." I sighed. "This year is going to be unbearable Riley, I'm telling you. I wish you were here."

"What about Edward? Is he not looking after you?" he asked.

"He's not you Riley. Our relationship is different. Just friends... not best friends, no one can replace you. Not after just a few weeks."

"I didn't mean it that way. I don't want pretty boy to replace me Bella." I'd introduced Riley and Edward just before Riley had to back to college, ever since then he called Edward 'Pretty Boy'.

"His name is Edward..."

"I know, anyway I don't want pretty boy to replace me, just want him to look after you while I'm not close." I sighed. I heard Charlie come in.

"Charlie's home, I'll talk to you later okay? I love you." I said

"Kay, love you Bells." He replied. I got up and walked downstairs.

"Hey dad, you're late again..." I said as I looked at the clock hanging in the kitchen. 9.34pm

"Yeah, I went to see Billy again." I flicked my head to look at him.

"What for now?" I asked.

"I want him to apologise to you properly Bella! He accused you of lying about his pathetic excuse for a son. 'Sorry to have bothered you' is not an acceptable apology, and I won't have it." I sighed.

"Don't let Jake get in the way of your relationship too Dad. You guys are like... best friends." Charlie was now sitting in his armchair, swigging a beer he'd grabbed from the fridge.

"Don't stress yourself out Bells. Now, how's your day been?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Okay I guess. Jake's moved school though... he's now a proud student of Forks high..." I said, with mock enthusiasm. I slumped down on the sofa, grabbing one of the cushions and hugging it.

"Yeah I heard about that. How'd you feel about it?" Of course Charlie heard about it, he knows everything in this god forsaken town.

"Just great..." I closed my eyes, and thought of how amazing my break had been, hanging out with Edward and Alice. "I think I'm gonna go to bed, I need an early night. I need as much energy as I can get to face tomorrow." I got up and threw the pillow back on the sofa, walked over to kiss Charlie goodnight and went upstairs. I got changed and snuggled into bed and drifted off to sleep thinking about how big a nightmare tomorrow was going to be...

**Reviews are amazing :]**

**Next: First day back at Forks High! **


	6. Chapter 6

When I woke up the next day, I was in quite a good mood, until I realised what day it was. I groaned as I got out of bed. Today was going to possibly be one of the worst days of my life. I showered and got dressed, then dried my hair. I made sure I had all my school things before I went downstairs. Charlie had already left for work, so I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, along with the cereal then the milk from the fridge. As I ate my breakfast I wondered whether Jacob would talk to me today, I hoped he didn't. After I finished eating, I threw my bowl in the sink, picked up my bag and walked out the door; grabbing my raincoat as I went. I locked the door and got into my truck. I pulled out the drive and made my way to school.

I pulled up to the entrance to the parking lot, and found a space near the school entrance so I didn't have to walk too far in the rain. I scanned the parking lot for Edward and Alice before I got out of my truck, they weren't here yet. But as I scanned the lot, I noticed his car... I groaned again. I waited in my truck for Edward and Alice. I read my biology text book to pass the time. A few minutes later I heard a soft tapping on my window, I looked up to see Edward and Alice waiting outside the truck for me. I crammed my book back into my bag and go out.

"Hey guys!" I said, pulling them in to a hug; Edward held on a little longer then Alice. We hadn't really talked about the kiss we shared all those weeks ago, but there was definitely a spark between us. I felt it whenever he hugged me, or grabbed my hand.

"Bella! Have you been waiting long?" Alice asked me, as we walked into the school.

"Not really, about 5 minutes." I smiled at her. My eyes were everywhere, looking for the face that didn't belong in these busy school corridors. Edward grabbed my hand and leaned down to whisper in my ear. There was that spark again...

"Stop looking for him, if he's smart, he'll stay away." I turned to face him; he looked right into my eyes. We were still walking, which I'd forgotten until I walked right into someone.

"Oh, I'm so-" I started, but then he turned around and I saw who it was. He looked bigger then when I saw him last.

"Oh hey Bella!" he smiled at me "Don't worry about it." I scowled at him and stormed off. _Fucking asshole, standing in the middle of the corridor, ruining my moment with Edward._ I walked up to my locker and emptied my bag of the books I wouldn't need until later. I shoved the books in there harder then I should have, and then slammed my locker door shut. I didn't realise Edward was behind me, so when I turned round, I jumped.

"You freakin' scared me." I gasped. He cracked a smile.

"Sorry." I started walking to biology, Edward walked next to me. "You shouldn't let Jacob get to you like that you know." I glared at him.

"Are you kidding me? The kid drives me crazy. I don't know how I ever loved him." Edward laughed at me.

"You're so cute when you're mad Bella." He said as he walked into class. I took my seat next to him. Mr Banner wasn't here yet.

"Guys are weird." I muttered to myself. Edward must have heard me because he started laughing again. Mr Banner rolled in the huge metal frame that held an outdated TV. Movie day! I relaxed a little in my seat. I wasn't in the mood for taking notes on biology at this time in the morning.

The double lesson went pretty quickly, I didn't really pay any attention to the videos Mr Banner put on. When the bell rang to end the lesson, Edward waited for me and we walked out together.

"I have trig, and then english..." I sighed. "I'll meet you and the others in the cafeteria at lunch."

"See ya Bells." Edward said, walking in the opposite direction. I made my way to trig alone. I hated trig. I took my seat at the back of the class, next to Jess. She smiled at me.

"Hey Bella."

"Hi Jess, how are you?" I asked, I wasn't particularly interested, I wanted trig to be over with.

"Good, so guess what?" she said, not giving me a chance to guess. "Mike asked me out last night..." she told me about Mike asking her out, and where she thought he was going to take her. She asked me if he'd ever spoken about her at work... I told her he did, but couldn't recall him ever mentioning her. She carried on talking to me about Mike, until Mr Varner walked in. The hour dragged, but it was finally over. I said goodbye to Jess and made my way to English. English flew by, but only because it was a subject I enjoyed. I had to go to the bathroom before I went to meet the Cullen's in the cafeteria. When I came out of the bathroom, Tyler Crowley was waiting outside. I walked past him; I didn't make any eye contact... Tyler Crowley wasn't a kid to mess with.

"Hey Bella!" he called my name. _Shit_. I turned slightly and smiled at him but carried on walking. The corridors were empty now; I guessed everyone was having lunch. "Hey, wait up!" he shouted. I heard his footsteps speed up and suddenly his hand was on my shoulder. He pulled me so I turned to face him. He was smirking. He took his hand off my shoulder then pushed me with so much force I fell into the wall, my head smashing against the bricks. I fell to the floor, I was dizzy I couldn't see properly. I could hear him laughing, but there was someone else with him now. I put my hand up to the back of my head... I could feel the warm liquid oozing from my head; that's when I passed out.

I could hear a constant beeping, it was really annoying. I tried to open my eyes to see where it was coming from, I regretted it. The lights were so bright. I tried again, my eyes adjusted to the much too bright lights. I looked around the unfamiliar room. The lights were hurting my eyes. I groaned and closed them again. I heard someone nearby move.

"Bella? Bella honey, can you hear me?" I slowly opened my eyes again, to see my dad standing over me.

"Dad... Where am I?" I asked, my throat was dry and croaky. He lifted a cup of water to my lips and tipped it so I could take a sip.

"Hospital sweetie, you fell and hit your head real bad. Don't you remember?" he asked. I fell? I don't remember falling. Actually I don't remember much.

"Can you turn the light of or something, it's killing my eyes." I moaned.

"Sure sweetie." He said as he walked away, finally the lights dimmed and I could open my eyes properly. "Do you want anything to eat?" he asked. I didn't notice before, but I was starving. I nodded and he walked out of the room. The door clicked shut and I tried to piece together what had happened. A few minutes later the door clicked open again.

"Bella?" That wasn't my dad's voice. It was a soft, sweet voice. "Are you awake?" he asked.

"Edward?" I muttered, he walked up to my bed and sat on the side. I smiled at him.

"Thank god. I didn't think you were going to wake up." He sighed with relief. "Do you even remember anything?" he asked. I shook my head; bad move. I moaned. I lifted my hand, only to find it was covered in gauze and there was a needle stuck in my hand. I looked at my other hand, and it was needle free so I lifted that on to my head, my hair was sticky.

"You should have seen the amount of blood there was Bella. It was horrific. I'm just glad you're gonna be okay." He took hold of my hand, and rubbed his thumb in a circular motion. It was nice. I heard the door open again. Edward let go of my hand. Charlie had come in with a tray full of food. I stared at him.

"Dad, I am only one person you know..." Edward laughed.

"Chief Swan." He nodded his head towards Charlie. He moved away reluctantly. "I better go spread the good news. Alice is unbearable out there." He chuckled and walked out the door. Charlie pulled a table towards the bed, and set the tray down on it. There was a whole load of food that could easily feed 2 maybe 3 people.

"He's been here every day you know." Charlie said, taking an apple from the tray.

"Every day? How long have I been here Dad?" I took a cup of jelly from the tray and grabbed a plastic spoon.

"3 days... Bella I didn't think you were going to wake up. You hit your head so hard. There was so much blood. Tyler Crowley found you in the corridor at school." And that's all it took for me to remember.

"Tyler Crowley...?" I said. It was all coming back to me now. I remembered.

"Yep, he said he found you lying on the floor, said he saw you trip." What a lying motherfucker!

"Dad... Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure Tyler found me?" I tried sitting up, but I went dizzy.

"Take it easy Bells, you just woke up." I slowly moved back to lying down.

"I need to talk to Edward; can you get him for me please Dad?" he nodded and walked out of my room. Fucking Tyler Crowley, that lying scumbag. Suddenly the door swung open. Riley burst through the door.

"Bella? Oh Bella you're awake!" he ran to my side and gently hugged me. Edward walked in the door. I was glad Charlie didn't come with.

"Riley what are you doing here?" I asked, shocked to see him. "Aren't you supposed to be at college?"

"You think that I'm honestly going to be able to concentrate on college when my BEST friend is hospitalized?" he looked at me like I was crazy.

"I guess not. But listen, Edward I'm remembering what happened. Charlie said that Tyler Crowley found me?" he sat on the other side of the bed.

"Yeah, well that's what everyone's saying." He said, nodding. "Why? What do you remember?"

"I remember going to the bathroom before lunch, then coming and he was there... I walked past him, not looking at him or anything. Then he called my name and grabbed me..." Riley looked like he was going to explode with angry, Edward was getting to the same point. "He smirked at me, and then pushed me into the wall with so much force, I felt my head hit the bricks, and then I fell to the floor... My head started bleeding, I couldn't see properly and I could hear him laughing, I could hear someone with him aswell, I felt the blood trickling out of my head and then I blacked out." My head started hurting, as I remembered the pain of crashing against the wall.

"Who the FUCK is Tyler Crowley?" Riley asked, through gritted teeth. Edward answered before I could.

"Some dumbass jock from school. He normally beats people up for others. I have a good idea who's behind this..." he took my hand. "Don't worry Bella; this will all be sorted out." He got up and left the room. Alice came in for a while, but she had to leave. Riley stayed with me for a couple of hours.

"So when do you have to go back to college?" I asked; I didn't want him to leave.

"Whenever you're out of hospital, I'm not leaving until you're better Bells." He was laying next to me in bed now. Nobody came into visit for a while. I liked that I got to spend with him.

"Jacob better watch his back." Riley muttered. "Especially now pretty boy is in on his...plan... or whatever it is that he's doing." I sighed.

"His name is EDWARD, Riley..." he chuckled.

"I know Bells, but I love to wind you up." He grinned at me.

"If I could move better, I would hit you..." I grumbled. "Where's my dad?"

"He had to go back to work... he said he'd come back at 8.30."

"Okay, I think I should probably sleep for a little while then. I need more pain meds aswell, my head is hurting." Riley got up from my bed and called the nurse in who gave me some more meds. I drifted off to sleep.

A couple of days later I was released from hospital and I went home. I was glad because the food was awful. Charlie drove me home, Riley and Edward followed behind us.

"You have some pretty dedicated friends Bells, not many people would just leave college for a week to look after they're friend." Charlie said.

"I know Dad, they're amazing." I rested my head against the cool window. We finally arrived home and I stumbled out of the car. I still needed to tell Charlie about Tyler, but I couldn't decide when the right time would be. We got inside, and Edward and Riley came in aswell. Riley was going to stay with us for the weekend, and then head back to college.

"You don't have to stay you know." I said to him, as I sat down on the sofa. He sat one side of me and Edward sat on the other. I felt like I was in a Bella sandwich.

"Oh, I do... who else is going make sure your alive every 2 hours? I can't expect Charlie to do it, he has work in the morning." I felt Edward shake with laughter beside me.

"I swear to god, if I get to sleep and you wake me up every 2 hours... you won't have to worry about going back to college cause you will be the one in hospital Riley Biers." I threatened. This only made Edward laugh harder. I glared at him. "You can shut up... Remember what happened last time you laughed at me threatening someone? " He shut up then. "Yeah, thought so." I squeezed out of the Bella sandwich and walked to the kitchen, I could feel three pairs of eyes on me as I walked. I turned round.

"You don't need to watch my every step..." as it happens, they do, because I turned back around and tripped over my own foot. "FUCK" I shouted as I landed on my ass. All three of them were standing over me offering me their hand to help me up. I took Charlie's, and he pulled me up. I pulled out one of the chairs from the table and sat down.

"Can I get a glass of milk?" I asked Charlie. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard then poured some milk from the fridge. When he handed it to me I gulped it down, I was so thirsty. I went to get up again, they all hovered around me. "QUIT IT, jeez." I walked towards Edward. "I'm going to bed." I hugged Edward. "I'll call you tomorrow." I smiled at him. He said goodbye to everyone and left, I hugged Charlie and Riley helped me upstairs. I knew I couldn't manage stairs on my own yet. Once I got changed I got into bed. Charlie had set up a blow up bed on my bedroom floor for Riley to sleep on. Once we were both settled, I sighed.

"What's up Bells?" Riley asked me quietly.

"I need to tell Charlie about Tyler... before it's too late." I lay on my side so I could face Riley. He looked at me.

"I'll tell him..." he suggested.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll tell him you told me in confidence and you didn't wanna tell anyone else, that way he shouldn't come to you and ask a bunch of questions." I heard him get up and walk towards my bed, I moved over so he had room to sit down, but he got under the covers with me and cuddled me. "I got your back Bells." He said.

Eventually we both fell asleep...

**Whoa, long chapter! XD**

**Next: Riley tells Charlie, and Edward 'sorts' Tyler out. & Bella goes back to school.**

**Reviews are better the snuggling up to Riley Biers. ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

As I gradually awoke from sleep, I wondered why the hell I could hear snoring. I turned over and stretched. Then I heard a thud on the floor. I looked over the side of my bed to find Riley on the floor in a pair of shorts. I'd forgotten he fell asleep in my bed. The look on his face was priceless. I covered my mouth to try and stop myself from laughing.

"Yeah thanks for that Bells..." he was sitting up, leaning on one arm and scratching his head with the other.

"Sorry" I giggled. "It's just payback for waking me up every two hours." I helped him up and he sat next to me on the bed. He looked at the clock which sat on my bedside table.

"Eight o'clock on a Saturday? Are you kidding me Bella?" he looked at me, his eyes thick with sleep.

"Well I couldn't exactly sleep with you sounding like a freakin' chainsaw. You snore so loud!" I laughed again.

"Jeez, shut up." He laughed with me. I got up from the bed and grabbed my bag of toiletries.

"You can go back to sleep, I need to shower." Before I'd even finished speaking, he was getting comfy in my bed. I laughed as I made my way to the bathroom. I let the water heat up as I brushed my teeth. I hopped in the shower; it felt nice to have a proper shower. After I was finished, I realised I left my clothes in my bedroom. I quickly towel dried my hair and wrapped my towel around me, before going back into my room. I peeked around the door to make sure Riley had gone back to sleep. He hadn't.

"Close your eyes!" I hissed, hiding behind the door.

"Oh come on Bella... you're in a towel. I've seen you in less." He winked at me. My mouth fell open.

"When have you EVER seen me in less than a towel?" I couldn't remember when I'd ever been naked in front of him.

"You wore that tiny bikini when we went to Jacksonville to see your mom last summer! How can you NOT remember? I remember VERY well" He winked at me, chuckling.

I glared at him. "This is different, what if my towel falls down? Then you will see everything, and you don't wanna see everything Riley."

He tutted at me. "Fine, I need a shower anyway." He got out of my bed, and grabbed the bag he bought with him and went to the bathroom. He slapped my ass as he walked past me.

"HEY!" all I could hear was his laughter. I grabbed a t-shirt and some jeans from my wardrobe. I quickly got dressed in case Riley thought it would be funny to sneak back in. After I got dressed, I went downstairs to make some breakfast. It was Saturday and Charlie had an early shift, so he wasn't here. I grabbed some plates from the cupboard and a mixing bowl and got out all the ingredients I'd need to make pancakes. I measured it out and mixed it all together then poured some of the mixture in a pan I'd heated up. I heard Riley make his way downstairs a few minutes later.

"MMM" I could hear him inhale deeply. "Something smells good Bells!" I looked at him; he was dressed now, in a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt.

"Pancakes" I smiled at him. "Can you get the syrup out please?" I pointed to the cupboard it was stored in.

"What's on the agenda today then?" he said, as he got the maple syrup from the cupboard and laid the table. I slid the pancake onto a plate and poured some more of the mixture in.

"I was thinking of asking Edward and Alice if they wanted to go to Port Angeles. Whatcha think?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. So, you're pretty sweet on Edward huh?" he grinned at me. I turned back around and flipped the pancake. I felt my cheeks blushing. Riley started laughing. "Oh you so are!"

I sighed. "We're friends Riley that's all." I turned the gas off, and put the plate of pancakes on the table. "Hey you called him Edward!" I laughed as I sat down.

He nodded, unable to speak because he was stuffing his face with pancakes. I laughed at him again, putting a forkful of pancake in my mouth. We carried on eating in silence.

"So you're gonna tell Charlie today right? He doesn't get back from work till seven tonight though." I asked.

"Yeah, you'll have to be upstairs or something when I tell him." I nodded as I stood up, picking up both plates and putting them in the sink. I turned the water on and scrubbed them clean. Riley went to watch TV whilst I called Edward. It rang for a while before anyone picked up.

"Hello, Cullen residence."

"Jasper? It's Bella."

"Oh hey Bella, how are you?" he asked politely. It was hard not to like Jasper; he was always really friendly; it seemed to rub off on people.

"Good, thanks, can I talk to Edward?" I asked. "Or Alice." I added

"Yeah, just a minute." He said; I twirled the phone cable around my finger as I waited. I heard shuffling and muttered voices.

"Hello?" Alice said, she sounded worried.

"Hey Alice, it's me. How are you?" I asked.

"Heeey Bella. I'm good. How's your head?" she asked.

"Good thanks, listen, I wondered if you and Edward wanna come to Port Angeles with Riley and me?"

"I can, I'm not sure about Edward. Can you come over?"

"Uh, okay? Is everything alright" I asked, sounding worried myself now.

"Yes and no..." she replied, her voice sounded wary.

"I'm on my way." I hung the phone up and walked into the living room. "Riley, get your shoes on, we're going to the Cullen's house" I told him. I walked back into the hallway and put my boots on and grabbed my bag, coat and keys.

"What's up?" Riley asked, putting his shoes on and grabbing his jacket.

"I don't know, Alice didn't say." I pulled my coat on and opened the door. We got in my truck and drove down to the Cullen's house. I was nervous as I drove up the long driveway. I walked up the path and knocked on the front door. Edward's mom, Esme answered.

"Bella! Sweetie, how nice to see you." She smiled at me and Riley. "Come in." She moved out of the way so we could walk in. I walked into the familiar house, right into the living room where Alice was sitting on the sofa. My eyes searched the room for Edward and when I found him I gasped.

"What the –" I choked out. Edward was laying on one of the sofas, his head was bandaged and his arm in a sling. I looked at his face; his eye was bruised and puffed up. "What happened?" I walked over to the sofa, and knelt down to his level.

"Tyler... but believe me he looks worse." Edward said.

"I find that hard to believe Edward, you look terrible." He sat up so I could sit next to him, even though I protested... "What did you do?" I noticed that Esme didn't follow us in, and that Riley was sitting with Alice, waiting to hear the story. I grabbed his hand.

"After I left your house last night, I went to find Tyler." I gasped again. He carried on. "He was hanging out by my mom's diner with Mike, Eric, Lauren and..." he paused. "And Jacob. I walked up to Tyler and asked him if I could talk to him. He followed me as I walked away from the diner. So I asked him why he attacked you. He just smiled at me, and it pissed me off so I shouted at him, told him he was a worthless excuse of a man and that if he ever went anywhere near you again he would regret it."

"Edward! How could you be so stupid! You should have left it to the police!" I told him, I was furious that he did this for my sake.

"What so his obnoxious father could bail him out? No way, the kid needs a lesson. Anyway, after I said that... he punched me in the face. We fought for a while before Mike and Eric came over, Jacob didn't come over for some reason. Mike tried to hold me back, but I accidently hit him when I was aiming for Tyler... I broke Tyler's nose, arm and probably did some damage to his ankle. I couldn't let him get away with hurting you Bella. I just couldn't." He looked me right in the eyes. I still had hold of his hand.

"Thank you for standing up for me Edward, but that really was stupid." I sighed. "What is it with you Forks boys? You're always so ready to beat the shit out of each other!" I glared at Edward, then at Riley. I sighed again. Everyone was quiet for a while.

"Bella wants to know if you guys wanna come to Port Angeles with us." Riley announced.

"Sure, why not?" Edward said.

"Can you even walk?" I asked, letting go of his hand to help him up. He chuckled.

"Yes, I can walk." Alice and Riley stood up; Alice went to tell Esme that we were leaving. Edward told us to get in his Volvo. I opened the door and slid into the backseat. Edward slid in next to me, Riley got in the front passenger seat and Alice got in the driver's seat.

"Hey, where's Jazz and Emmett?" I asked before Alice started the car. I didn't ask where Rosalie was, because I knew she wouldn't come if we invited her, she didn't like me and she apparently wasn't very fond of Riley.

"Rose wanted to go shopping, so Emmett took her to Seattle and took Jazz so he didn't have to spend the whole time on his own outside dressing rooms." Alice laughed. She started the car, and drove down the long driveway. Alice started talking to Riley about college and living in away from home.

"How's your head today?" Edward asked me. He was looking right into my eyes; it took me a while to answer.

"Oh, uh... good, thank you." I opened my window to get a bit of air. Riley and Alice were chatting the whole way to Seattle. Edward didn't speak much after he asked me about my head. It didn't take long for us to arrive at Port Angeles thanks to Alice's driving. She pulled into the parking lot outside the movie theatre.

"Wanna go to the movies?" Alice said as we walked up to the entrance of the theatre. "There's that new romance movie out that I'm dying to see." I heard the boys groan. I laughed.

"I think we should be more considerate of our guests Alice." I said. "What about that one?" I pointed to a poster advertising some comedy.

"Yeah, I wanna see that." Edward said eagerly.

"Yeah, me too!" Riley agreed. I laughed at them; clearly they didn't want to see a sloppy love movie. Personally I didn't either, not after my recent love disaster.

"Damn it, outnumbered" Alice muttered. "Why can't you guys be more sensitive? Like Jazz, he would have come and watched the romantic movie with me." She groaned as we walked into the theatre.

"Because, Alice... we are not trying to get laid." Edward joked. Riley's booming laughter filled the theatre lobby.

"He's not like that Edward." she sighed then she muttered under her breath. It sounded like she called Edward an asshole. I laughed at them. Edward and I went to get the tickets while Riley and Alice got in line to get the popcorn and drinks. As we waited in line, Edward took my hand in his. I looked up at him, and he was smiling at me. I blushed and hid my face behind my hair.

"We can get tickets for the movie Alice wants to see if you want to you know." He squeezed my hand. I looked back at him. I shook my head.

"No thanks, I'd rather laugh at something then be reminded of so called 'true love'." I scoffed and made quotation marks with my free hand. "If there's such a thing" Edward laughed. The line moved forward and Edward let go of my hand and bought the tickets. I went to get some money from my purse.

"This ones on me Bells." Edward said.

"Don't be stupid Edward; don't you think you've done enough for me?" I glared at him. He shook his head, laughing.

"It's a movie ticket Bella. Let's just say you owe me one." He winked at me. He handed me the tickets and took my hand again. Every single time we'd touched today, I felt the spark between us. It was weird, but I liked it. We walked over to Alice and Riley; Riley glanced down at our hands, and looked up at me and winked. I ignored him. We walked into the right screen and took our seats. We chatted for a bit while we waited for the lights to dim and the trailers to start. An hour and forty five minutes later we were walking out of the theatre. Alice and Riley both had to use the bathroom, leaving Edward and I on our own again.

"Hey Bella, follow me..." Edward walked towards a dark corridor which I presumed lead to some staff room or something. I followed him, curious of what he was doing. As soon as he reached the bottom, he turned to face me and pulled me close to him.

"Edward" I whispered. "What are you doing?" I looked up the corridor to make sure nobody had followed us. He moved so our bodies we're pressed right against each other. He leaned his face forward so close I could feel his breath brush my cheek. This wasn't like Edward, since I kissed him in my bedroom, the only physical contact we had was when he held my hand. He tilted his head slightly and then he kissed me. This wasn't _anything _like the kiss we'd shared before. There was feeling behind it; the spark was there again, I closed my eyes as his soft, warm lips melted against my own. He raised his good hand and ran it through my hair. He was cautious until I kissed back, then I felt him smile. This was unlike any other kiss I'd had before. We spent the next few minutes like this, before the need for oxygen took over. Edward pulled back slowly, leaving his hand on my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. I was breathless, and I was blushing. Edward was looking down at me, smiling so I smiled back.

Suddenly my phone rang, ruining the moment. I grabbed it out of my bag and saw that Alice's name was flashing on the screen. I flipped it open and answered.

"Hello?" I was breathless still.

"Bella, where the hell are you and Edward?" she sounded worried.

"Uh, we went to check something out. Meet us out front, we won't be a minute." I told her.

"'Kay" She answered. I ended the call and flipped the phone shut again. Edward was still looking at me.

"Alice" I held my phone up, and shook it. "We should go and meet them outside." I shoved my phone back in my bag. "Thank you." I said as I skipped off down the corridor. It was a little while before I heard his footsteps following me.

"Thank you? For what?" he asked; he had to run to catch up with me.

"The kiss Edward, it was... amazing." I heard him chuckle, I looked at him and he flashed that crooked grin of his. We carried on walking to the end of the corridor. I could see Alice and Riley waiting outside.

"Oh" he said. "No need to thank me Bella. I've been dying to do that for so long." I glanced at him, and I could see his cheeks blushing. I smiled.

"Really? I had no idea you even felt that way about me."

He was silent after that, and we didn't say anything else as we approached Alice and Riley. Edward pushed the heavy theatre door open and held it for me. I thanked him and walked over to the others. Riley eyed my face, and grinned. He could read me too easily.

"Do you wanna go somewhere to eat?" Alice asked, oblivious to Riley scrutinizing my face.

"I can't I gotta get back for Charlie." I sighed. "Gotta tell him about Tyler today... Well Riley has to..."

"Why's Riley telling him?" Edward asked as we walked back to the car.

"It's just easier; Riley will be able to talk him out of doing something stupid..." I glared at him. "It's a shame he couldn't talk you out of it." He just laughed at me. We got in the car and drove back to Forks; we talked about the movie, and about me going back to school on Monday. Before I knew it, we were back at the Cullen's. Riley and I thanked Edward and Alice for coming to Port Angeles with us, and got into my truck. We were quiet while I drove down the long driveway that lead us back down towards the highway. I kept replaying the kiss in my head, reliving the feeling of Edwards's soft lips on mine. Then, as if he could read my mind, Riley spoke.

"You and Edward kissed tonight, didn't you?" He accused.

"No..." I attempted to lie about it. I feared the blushing of my cheeks would give me away.

"Liar!" I was right. He laughed at me. "So how was it?" I glanced at him. There's no point in lying now.

"Amazing" I sighed. I looked back at the road, and concentrated on driving. "It felt like no kiss I've ever had before Riley." I heard him chuckle. He may be my best friend, but this was something I needed to talk with a girlfriend about.

"I'm happy for you Bella, really. Edward's a nice kid." He said as I pulled into my driveway.

"Kid? Riley he's only a few months younger then you." I stated. "You sound like Charlie." I laughed at him. Charlie's cruiser wasn't in the drive yet, I glanced at my watch; it was a little early yet. I got out of the truck and walked up the path to the house, unlocked the door and went inside.

"I think he would be good for you though, he seems nice enough." He said as he went to sit on the sofa.

"I'm glad you approve... but no telling Charlie." I said as I went into the kitchen to get things ready for dinner. I was making steak and potatoes, one of Charlie's favourites; I had to soften him for when Riley told him about Tyler. I put the potatoes on, and made a quick sauce to marinate the steak in and left it to work its magic while I went to sit with Riley.

"So, I think you should wait till after he's eaten to tell him, it'll give him time to relax a little bit beforehand."I pulled my legs up on the sofa and hugged my knees. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Charlie had a tendency to over react when it came to me, or anyone hurting me. I know he's my dad but it's unnecessary. Riley could sense my stress, and he scooted over so he was closer to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"It's gonna be fine." He murmured, kissing my cheek. I rested my head on his arm. I hoped he was right. A few minutes later I heard a car pull up in front of the house. I got up and peeked out of the window. It was Charlie, of course it was Charlie; stupid Bella. I went back into the kitchen and put the steak in the oven and checked the potatoes; they were nearly cooked. Charlie walked in the door. He kicked off his boots and hung up his coat and gun belt.

"Hey dad" I said, walking into the hall.

"Hey Bells." He replied, he walked into the living room and slumped into his chair. "Hey Riley" Riley nodded his head and put some sport channel on the TV. "How are you kids? What did you do today?" he asked.

"Good, we went to Port Angeles with Edward and Alice to see a movie." I replied, he looked cautious when I mentioned Edward, I idly wondered why. "Dinner should be ready soon, steak and potatoes!" I told him.

"Mmm, my favourite" he replied. I sat with them for a little while longer, just thinking about the day, how amazing it had been and wondered how it would end. I got up to check dinner again, this time it was ready so I set the plates on the table and served it.

"Dinners ready guys!" I announced, as I sat at the table. I wasn't really hungry, but I ate anyway. Charlie and Riley were talking about some baseball game that was coming up. Then Charlie asked me about the movie we saw. We talked about that for a while, and then finished our dinner in silence. Riley helped me wash the plates up, while Charlie went back to his chair; but only after I refused to let him help us. It didn't take three people to wash up a couple of dishes. After we washed up, I announced I was going to go and shower. I wasn't, but I needed to be out of the way so Riley could tell Charlie. I went upstairs, opened and closed my bedroom door, waited a minute then open and closed the bathroom door so Charlie thought I was in there, they had the TV on loud enough that they wouldn't have heard the water running, so I was safe. I sat on the landing with my legs crossed as I waited for Riley to start the conversation up. Hopefully I wouldn't have to wait too long.

"Riley..." Charlie started. "What do you know about Edward?" I thought that was a bit of a strange question for Charlie to ask.

"Um, I know he's a good kid and that he and Bella are really close. Why?" he replied, he sounded as curious as me.

"You know the kid who found Bella after her accident? Tyler Crowley? He came into the station today, reported that Edward Cullen attacked him last night, and broke quite a few of his bones aswell. I've gotta go and see him on Monday."

"Yeah, well about Tyler... Charlie I have something to tell you." Riley started, I heard him take a deep breath. "Bella told me that she was remembering what happened, and that Tyler was the one who hurt her, he pushed her. She told me he grabbed her, and pushed her so hard she hit her head and blacked out." Everything was quiet for a while. I wondered what Charlie's face looked like, or what he was thinking.

After a few more minutes, he spoke. "But, I don't get it. Why would Tyler do that to Bella? She doesn't associate with him, or his friends for that matter. I don't understand."

"I heard that he attacks people for other kids around the school. And I have a pretty good idea who's behind it Charlie." It went quiet again. I pulled my legs up and hugged my knees again. I rocked slightly.

"Jacob..." I heard Charlie gasp.

"I think so, or Lauren."

"Poor Bella... Like that kid hasn't put her through enough." Charlie said. "So is that why Edward attacked him? He was standing up for Bella?" he asked. Riley must have nodded or something. "I can't let this one slide like I did with you. His dad is a powerful business man; I think I need to have a word with Tyler; I'll try to get him to drop any charges he was going to make. Before I do anything I need to speak to Bella." I heard some movement, I quickly got up, grabbed a towel from my room and ran in to the bathroom and put the water on. I needed to shower anyway, so I got undressed and stood underneath the warm water.

"Bella" Charlie called up the stairs. I decided not to answer; he should be able to hear the water running. I quickly scrubbed myself clean and washed my hair then turned the water off again. I roughly dried my hair with the towel, and then wrapped it round myself. I popped my head around the door.

"Did you call me dad?" I asked, knowing full well that he did. He was standing at the bottom of the stars, looking up at me; I walked out of the bathroom. He looked hurt. That shocked me, my chest started hurting.

"Why didn't you tell me Bella? This could have been sorted before Edward got himself into trouble." He said. I held the towel round me tightly, unable to answer him. I just looked at him, apologetically. He came upstairs, and pulled me into a hug. The pain in my chest seemed to fade as he held onto me.

"I'm sorry dad." I whispered. He pulled out of the hug, leaving his hands on my shoulder.

"This will all get sorted honey; I'll make sure of it." I smiled at him. I was getting a little uncomfortable, the fact I was wearing nothing but a towel bothered me.

"Thanks dad... I think I should probably go and get some clothes on now though." I said awkwardly, turning around and opening my bedroom door. I heard him go back downstairs, and I threw on my favourite old sweats and brushed my wet hair. I heard a knock on my door. "Come in." Riley walked into my room. He walked over to my bed and sat down, I joined him. I hugged him then rested my head on his arm.

"Thank you Riley."

"It's okay; just keep your head up alright? I need to get packing, I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"I'm gonna miss you." I whispered.

"You know I'll keep in contact and that I'll be back like every holiday, so soon you're gonna get sick of seeing me again." He joked, but I knew that this was hard for him too. "Plus, if you happen to get yourself hospitalized again you know I'll come back." He squeezed me before he got up off my bed. We talked the whole time he was packing his things. We spent the rest of the night in my bedroom, talking, laughing and just having a good time before we had to say farewell again. We eventually went to sleep.

The next morning, Riley said his goodbyes and made his way back to college, and promised to call me when he arrived, though I'm sure he will forget. I spent the rest of the day cleaning, and catching up on the school work I'd missed whilst I was in hospital. I was trying to keep myself focused on schoolwork but I found myself thinking of nothing but Edward. I didn't realise that my feelings were so strong for him; every time I thought of the kiss we shared I got butterflies in my stomach. I shook my head and tried to focus myself again. Charlie didn't really talk about the situation with Tyler, which surprised me, because I'd prepared myself for the onslaught of questions I thought he'd have. My guess was that he was trying to keep our conversations as normal as possible, he probably thought I didn't want to talk about it. He was right, but the fact he was trying to make 'normal' conversation all the time was making it obvious that he was trying too hard.

After dinner, I cleaned up and put everything away, and then I packed up my school things and watched TV with Charlie until it was suitable time to go to sleep. I decided that 9.30 was suitable so I said goodnight to Charlie and made my way upstairs. After I got changed, I sat on my bed for awhile, thoughts still lingering on the kiss. I lay down and fell asleep thinking of Edward.

I woke up the next day bright and early, ready to face school. As usual Charlie was already gone when I got up. I sat and ate my breakfast slowly because it was too early to leave yet. I washed my bowl up, checked that I had all my school things, and left to go to school. Before I walked out of the door my phone buzzed, alerting me I had a text message. I searched for my phone and pulled it from my backpack.

_Alice knows we kissed. _It was from Edward. How the hell did Alice know? I wanted to know, so I text him back asking how she knew. As I waited for Edward to text back I got in the cab of my truck and sat there for a few minutes, then my phone buzzed again.

_I might have told her... well not told so much as tortured for information. There were threats involved and everything :[. _ I couldn't help but laugh, as I imagined Alice forcing information from Edward.

_I'm on my way to school, meet me there and explain everything._ I text back and started the truck. I'd left early still, so I got a good spot in the parking lot, Edwards car was already parked there, so I parked next to him. He was on his own in the Volvo, but he was in the passenger seat. Which meant that Alice drove him to school but she'd left him already. He got out of the Volvo and got into my truck.

"So..." I started. "Torture huh?" I turned to face him. He was smirking.

"Yep, she was trying to straighten my hair; I was afraid she was going to burn me. And then she threatened a full makeover if I didn't explain myself." I burst into a fit of giggles, that was _so_ Alice. He laughed with me. "You don't mind that she knows?" he asked me after he stopped laughing.

"Should I mind?" I asked, looking at him.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to keep it a secret." He looked away. I scooted over closer to him.

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Riley can read me like a book he's read a thousand times. He knew the second we walked out of that movie theatre." I smirked. "Honestly, I think he knew that you liked me before you even knew." I chuckled. He took my hand, and moved closer still.

"So you don't mind if I do this." He said as he moved his face closer and kissed me softly. I felt my heart beat rapidly. I'm pretty sure he could hear them.

"Not at all." I smiled.

"Good, I'm glad of that." He said before he kissed me again. Before the kiss ended I heard an almighty bang on the side of the truck. I jumped and hit my head on the roof of the truck, so did Edward.

"FUCK!" I shouted, grabbing my head. That's all I needed. Edward was muttering something. I rolled my window down to find Emmett and Jasper outside, laughing.

"Did I interrupt something?" Emmett asked, smirking.

"Asshole." I muttered as I rolled the window up and got out of the truck. "You made me hit my head, pretty hard. If I die now, it's all your fault."

"Naw, don't be like that Bells." He said, trying to hug me. I attempted to push him away, but he forced me into one of his tight bear hugs.

"Put...me...down..." I gasped. "I...CAN'T...BREATHE..." He finally let me go, and I tried to catch my breath. "Jeez Emmett, you're trying a little too hard to kill me, I'm getting suspicious..." Edward was standing by my side now, scowling at Emmett and Jasper. Alice had obviously told them, and Edward didn't seem too happy about that. I grabbed my bag from the truck and made my way into school. Emmett, Jasper and Edward walked with me, I felt like I had my own bodyguards. I also figured that I wasn't going to be on my own anymore, not since Tyler attacked me. As we walked down the corridor a few people asked me how I was, but mostly people just stared at me. It didn't surprise me to see Jacob with Lauren, but it did surprise me to see Jessica there. They scowled at me, and at Edward. Nobody made any eye contact with Emmett and Jasper. They walked me up to my locker, where they split up, and only Edward stayed with me. I emptied my bag of the books I didn't need and walked to biology with Edward. He took my hand.

"Here's hoping that nobody is hospitalized today." He grinned at me, squeezing my hand slightly.

"Very funny, Edward." we walked down the corridor hand in hand, people still staring. We walked into biology and took our seats, but Mr Banner wasn't here yet.

"So, Bella... I kinda transferred myself into all of your lessons." Edward stated, casually as he flicked through his textbook.

"What?" I looked at him. "Why?" he looked at me from under his lashes.

"I don't want you to have to go through that again Bella. It shouldn't have happened." He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

"Nobody could have helped that Edward. Tyler's an asshole, and he does dirty work for other assholes. Shit happens..." _mostly to me, but that's not the point._ I thought to myself.

"I just wanna make sure it doesn't happen again, okay?" he glanced at me; his gaze caused my thoughts to go completely blank.

"Fine..." I whispered as Mr Banner arrived. The lesson didn't go as fast as I wanted it to, but eventually we were free. Edward walked with me to trig.

"I still think it's stupid that you changed all your classes." I said as we walked down the corridor.

"I know you do, but it's not going to change anything." he smiled at me. I sighed, and let the subject drop. The rest of the day passed pretty quickly, and it was nice to have Edward in all my classes. It was nice to have someone who knew the truth about Tyler, someone who didn't stare at me accusingly. Finally it was time to go home. I walked out to my truck with Edward, Alice, Jasper and Emmett, Rosalie was there too, but she stood as far from me as possible.

"Wanna come and hang out at my place?" I asked Edward as I got into my truck, the others went to get in their cars.

"Sure, Charlie won't mind will he?" he asked, getting into the passenger's side of the truck.

"Why would he?" I cocked my eyebrow as I start the truck, it roared to life. "Plus, he's not home till eight." I pulled out of my parking spot and left the school grounds, driving back to my house. Edward and I chatted all way back.

"I can just imagine Alice torturing you with a makeov-" I stopped as we pulled into my drive way, and I saw something that surprised me. I took the keys out of the truck.

"Whose car is that?" Edward asked me, I gazed out of the window.

"Jacobs..." I muttered. I got out and slammed the door shut. Edward followed suit and caught up with me as I walked up the pathway that lead to my door. I heard another car door slam. I rammed the key in the door and walked inside, slamming the door after Edward walked in. I hung my coat up and threw my bag on the sofa.

"Do you want a drink?" I asked Edward, he followed me into the kitchen.

"Sure." He replied, I grabbed a couple of sodas from the fridge and passed him one. As we walked into the living room, there was a light tap on the door. I sighed as I walked over to the door and pulled it open slightly.

"Bella..."Billy asked, he was in his wheelchair at my door, Jacob standing behind him. "Is Charlie home?"

"You know full well that he isn't Billy." I went to shut the door, but Jacob put his foot in the way. I sighed. "You're not coming in. You can wait in your car all you like, but he's not home till eight." Jacob moved his foot and I slammed the door in they're faces.

I walked back to Edward and slumped down on the sofa. I cracked open my soda can and took a big gulp. I didn't know why Billy and Jacob were here, but I didn't care. Edward scooted closer to me and put his arm around me.

"Ignore them, if they are stupid enough to wait nearly 4 hours for Charlie then let them." He kissed my cheek. I smiled at him and we sat watching TV for a while before we started doing some homework.

"You know, I'd get nowhere if you didn't help me" I joked as Edward helped me with my calculus homework.

"Oh, I know." He flashed grin at me. We finished our homework and he helped me make a start on dinner. Once dinner was cooking, we spent the rest of the time watching TV and talking. It was nearly time for Charlie to arrive home. I wondered what would happen, and if Billy and Jacob had stayed and waited. I didn't dare look out the window.

After I checked the dinner, I went back to sit with Edward, it wasn't long before I could hear chatter outside the house, which meant Charlie was home and that Billy and Jacob had waited for him. Idiots. From the sound of Charlie's voice, he didn't sound too impressed, I got up and walked over to the window.

"No Billy, I don't wanna hear it." I heard Charlie say as he walked towards the house.

"C'mon Charlie, this is stupid." I heard Jacob reply.

"He's right Charlie; this is all over some teenage argument..." I heard Billy's wheelchair crunching the gravel as he moved it, trying to keep up with Charlie I assumed.

"No Billy, this isn't over some teenage argument, this is over the fact your useless son cheated on my little girl... and THEN got someone to attack her because she saw sense and broke up with his sorry ass. Now get off my property before I arrest the both of you." He said as he stuck the key in the door. I smiled at him when he walked through the door, and he came over to give me hug.

"How long have they been here Bells?" he asked me, pulling out the hug, leaving his hands on my shoulders.

"Nearly 4 hours... they were here already when I came back from school with Edward." I explained.

"Edward's here?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. I nodded. "Just the guy I need to talk to." He said, letting go of my shoulders, hanging up his coat and gun belt and walking into the living room.

"Chief Swan." Edward stood up and greeted him politely. I smiled, Charlie made Edward nervous.

"Sit down son; I need to have a word with you..."

**So, SUPER LONG CHAPTER. Oh my gosh. But I'm glad it's finally posted. It feels as though I've been writing this forever :/ but hurrah, I finally finished. :D**

**Next: Charlie's talk with Edward... ****J**

**Reviews are better than a secret kiss with Edward Cullen in a darkened corridor ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

They both sat down in the living room, I wasn't sure if Charlie wanted me in there or not. I walked into the kitchen to see if dinner was ready. It wasn't quite done so I sat at the table, trying to listen to Edward and Charlie.

"Now, I know you wanted to protect or defend Bella when you attacked Tyler, but he wants to press charges. I also know that the kids an ass, and what he did to Bella is inexcusable, but you understand that I have to talk to you about this right?" I heard Charlie say, his voice thick with authority. Edward must have nodded because Charlie carried on. "Off the record, I wanna thank you for doing that for Bella... that asshole deserves everything that's coming to him. Tyler is coming down to the station tomorrow, so I'm gonna tell him that I gave you a warning, and get him to drop the charges against you... I'm sure he wouldn't like his father to know that he beats up girls..." He paused. "Just next time inform the police before you get yourself in trouble kid."

"Thank you Chief Swan." Charlie must have said all he was going to say because I heard the TV come on. I checked dinner again and it was ready. I called them in and we ate mostly in silence. After dinner Edward helped me clean up and he went home. I sat with Charlie in the living room for a little while.

"Thanks dad." I muttered as we sat watching some mindless sitcom that neither of us was enjoying.

"S'alright kid." Charlie replied, sleepily. I sat with him for a little while longer, until he drifted off to sleep. I grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and lay it over him. I made my way upstairs and went to bed.

Weeks passed before Billy and Jacob made any attempt to contact us. Jake ignored me at school and Billy didn't bother with Charlie. Edward and I had grown even closer now and were officially dating; Alice and I were best friends, even Rosalie had started talking to me. Charlie managed to get Tyler to drop the charges, but only after his father had found out what had happened. He even came and apologised to me, and dropped out of school. It was coming up to the end of term again, and Riley was coming to visit. He hadn't been able to come to visit much since last time; he'd been so busy with college. The day had finally arrived, and I was freaking out. Riley knew that Edward and I had kissed, but I hadn't told him that we were together now. I knew that he would have so much to say about it, but he would be happy. I just didn't want to tell him over the phone, which is why I'd waited for his visit.

I sat in the living room waiting for Riley to arrive, Edward sat with me. We were trying to find something to watch, and failing. I didn't talk much, I was too distracted. Edward was holding my hand and every now and again he gave it a little squeeze. Finally I heard a car pull up on the front; I shot up and walked over to the door.

"Calm down Bella... you know he won't freak out." Edward tried to reassure me. I opened the door, and Riley was walking up the pathway with his bag.

"Bella!" he ran the rest of the way and dumped his bag on the floor, pulling me in to a vice grip hug. "I've missed you so much." We stood together for a while. "Oh! Edwards here." He stated, as he pulled out of the hug. I flushed red, and turned to face Edward. He flashed his crooked grin at us.

"Yeah, we're kinda together now." I blurted out. Riley burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well, I saw that one coming!" I sighed and relaxed a little.

"Bella was freaking out about telling you." Edward told Riley, which only made him laugh harder. I glared at Edward, and slapped his arm.

"Thanks Edward..."

"I knew it! I knew this day would come Isabella... I'm disappointed it took you so long." Riley smirked at me. He picked his bag up and walked into the living room, slumping himself down on the sofa and kicking his shoes off as if he were at his own house.

"Make yourself at home." I raised my eyebrow and sat n the sofa next to him, and Edward next to me. We sat and spent time catching up on each other's lives; everything was going fine until Riley dropped a bomb on me.

"You are WHAT?" I asked gobsmacked. I turned my whole body so it was facing him. I waited impatiently for him to reply.

"I'm seeing Vicky again." he paused. "And I invited her to the party you're having for Halloween." He rushed the last part. I stared at him, unable to blink. I just sat there for a little while, trying to compose myself. Eventually I turned to face Edward.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" he nodded and I got up, pulling Riley with me and up the stairs. I pushed my door open and shoved Riley down on my bed.

"Have you actually gone insane?" I asked him as I paced back and forward. "Did you drink yourself into stupidity or something?" I paused "You do realise this is the same Victoria that slept with your best friend right?" he nodded, not saying a word. "Oh good, I was just wondering if you actually had any recollection of that."

"Bell-" I cut him off. I stopped pacing and stood right in front of him

"No, shut up. You're not getting yourself out of this one. Riley I was there when she cheated on you. I saw how devastated you were, you loved her. Fuck, you even told me that you wanted to marry her! I don't want you to be hurt by her again Riley." I sighed and threw myself down next to him.

"I know Bella, but" he paused "I still love her, don't you want me to be happy?" he asked.

"Don't turn this around Riley, please. How can you even think of taking her back after what she did to you, with your _best friend_." I brought my legs up onto the bed and crossed them.

"You know, this situation isn't so different to what you did with Jake." He said.

"Yeah, and look how that turned out." I closed my eyes and thought of that night.

_Jake, Leah, Jessica, Mike, Eric, Angela and I were all at the movies. Jake and Leah had gone to get drinks and snacks. They had been gone a while, and I needed the bathroom. I walked out of the theatre to find the bathroom and caught them kissing and touching each other in the lobby. I stopped dead in my tracks and ran back into the theatre. I grabbed my bag from under my chair and left the theatre again. They were still kissing when I walked back out there. I walked up behind Jacob and hit him with my bag and ran out of the lobby. He ran after me, calling my name and pleading for me to stop and listen to him._

"_I don't wanna hear it Jacob." Shouted back to him, I walked to the closest bus stop, even though I hadn't the faintest idea how to get home from here. I sat at the bus stop, trying to stop myself from crying. Jake caught up with me and sat next to me and grabbed my hand. I pulled my hand away from him and stood up. He grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving._

"_Jake, I suggest you let me go... I'll scream." I warned him, the stop wasn't far from the movie theatre, so people would be able to hear me._

"_Bella... just listen to me... she kissed me!" I stared at him. "I don't know why I kissed her back" he hung his head._

"_Yeah, well you didn't look like you were unsure when I saw you, in fact, I even ran back to get my bag and when I came out you were still looking pretty sure." I said in a sarcastic tone. _

"_Bella, it was just a stupid mistake. I'm sorry!" he stood up and tried to pull me into a hug; I let him, I didn't like fighting with him._

"_I wanna go home." He took my hand and led me to his car and drove me home. We sat in silence for the most part, but as we got closer to Forks I spoke up._

"_I'm still pissed at you... and Leah, ugh that bitch! Just... hope my dad doesn't find out... cos he will just flip out."_

"_Well, I'm not gonna tell him, obviously." Jake said quietly._

"_Well, let's hope Leah doesn't tell Harry..." I said and I lapsed back into silence. We pulled up at the front of my house and I got out of the car without saying goodbye, or giving him a kiss. He drove off without questioning me. _

"_Hey Bells, your home early." Charlie said as I closed the door behind me._

"_I wasn't feeling too good, so Jake bought me home." I replied as I made my way upstairs. "Goodnight dad."_

"_Night sweetie" After that, it took a few weeks before I was able to forgive Jake properly, but I eventually did._

"Hellloo? Earth to Bella." Riley shook me and snapped me back into reality.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about... you know. Anyway back to the matter at hand... that was completely different Riley!"

"How was that different Bella? He cheated on you with Leah, and you forgave him and carried on seeing him." I sighed.

"Yes, then a year down the line he cheated on me again Riley, and that's exactly what Victoria will do to you... maybe not as soon, or possibly sooner. I don't want you to be in the place you were before."

"Just give her a chance Bella, please. I understand what you're trying to do for me, really and I appreciate it, but I am in love with her... no one has ever made me feel the same way as she makes me feel." I sighed again, defeated. It was obvious that he wasn't going to back down and listen to me.

"I don't like this Riley, but it's obvious you're not gonna listen to me. She better not dress in slutty clothes at this stupid party your making me throw." I glared at him, and he laughed at me. He pulled me into a hug and we got up and joined Edward back downstairs. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV, then I made some dinner when Charlie came home from work. Edward left after dinner and Riley and I left Charlie downstairs watching his baseball game.

The next day we had to set everything up for the Halloween party that night. We were having the party at Edwards's mum's diner because there was plenty of space once all the tables were moved, plus the seating from the booths. There was also a huge outdoor area where we were going to set up a dance floor. Alice and I had spent a few weeks sorting out decorations for the party, and we had gone with the traditional black and orange colour scheme. We set everything up and it looked amazing. The main diner had all fake cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and down the walls, with spiders and bats places around everywhere. There were huge pumpkins on the tables and black and orange sheets draped around the windows and doors. We had coloured the drinks so that they were orange too. After everything was set up we went back to the Cullen's house to get changed. Alice dressed up as a police officer, in a pair of navy blue short shorts and a matching tight fitting shirt that was super low cut, she even had a police hat and pair of handcuffs to go with her outfit. I dressed up as a witch; wearing a black corseted dress that Charlie would have thought was too short, a pointed witch's hat, a pair of stockings that went above my knee and a pair of killer high heels. I laced the corset with orange ribbon so it matched the theme.

"Wooow, Bella... if I were Edward..." she looked me up and down. "Wooow." I blushed.

"Shut up, have you looked in the mirror? Every girl who is even in the same room as you is gonna take a hit on her self confidence tonight!" I threw at her.

"Oh I know!" she grinned "But just wait till Edward sees you. Ah, I can't wait!" she exclaimed. I laughed at her. There was no one at the Cullen's, as Edward was getting ready at Emmett's with Jasper and Riley, and Mr and Mrs Cullen were having a Halloween dinner with some friends of theirs.

"Just glad Charlie isn't coming." I said as we walked to Alice's car.

"I know right... he would KILL you." She laughed as she drove us up to the diner, we chatting along the way, wondering what people were going to come dressed as. Edward and Riley hadn't told me what they were coming as yet, and I was excited to see their costumes. We arrived at the diner and there was already people waiting outside, so I hopped out of the car and walked around the back to get inside to find Edward and the guys. As me and Alice walked in the back way, the guys stopped talking. I searched for Edwards face, and found him staring at me, mouth open and eyes looking like they were gonna pop outta his sockets. Emmett was looking at me too, but Riley and Jasper were staring at Alice.

"Jeez guys, put your tongues away!" Alice teased. "We have a party to host and a few guests outside freezing their butts off!" she walked past Jasper and Riley to go get the key to open the front doors of the diner. Both of them followed her like lost sheep.

"Wow, Bella... you look... amazing!" Emmett said. Edward was still staring.

"Thanks Em, you guys look good too!" All four of them had come as vampires, with capes and fake fangs, and fake blood dripping from their mouths. "Loving the blood, it looks so real." Edward still wasn't speaking, and he didn't stop staring until Alice called for Emmett to help serve drinks, he turned his head unwillingly then quickly turned to face me again once Emmett left. I walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bella" he paused "you look fantastic..." he put his arms around my waist and leaned down to give me a proper kiss.

"Thank you." I took his hand. "C'mon we gotta party to host!" we walked out in to the diner where more of our school friends had arrived. The music was now playing and everyone had a drink and was dancing and chatting with each other. Edward and I walked around greeting people and making sure everything was going smoothly. Once everything appeared to be going well, Edward and I finally sat down together in one of the booths.

"Bella... you really look stunning." I blushed as Edward ran his hand up and down my arm. I smiled at him and scooted a little closer to him to kiss him. "Every guy is staring at you." He whispered in my ear; I blushed even harder as I turned around to find Mike and a group of his friends looking in our direction. I took a sweeping glance around the room and stopped when I saw a huge bush of fiery red hair.

"Ugh." I sighed, turning back around to face Edward. "Victoria is here." I scooted over and go out of the booth; Edward came with me, holding my hand as we walked towards her. Riley had found her and was kissing her already. I made my way over to them reluctantly. Once Riley had stopped sucking her face he spotted me and smiled, I forced a smile back as she turned to face me to see who he was smiling at. She looked me up and down.

"Victoria!" I greeted her, still forcing a smile.

"Ahh, Bella! Great party!" she said, over the loud music. "You look great!"

"Thanks!" I didn't return the compliment, because she was dressed as a slutty bunny, she was wearing next to nothing. My eyes swept the room again this time finding someone who wasn't welcome. My eyes locked on them, causing Edward and Riley to stop talking and follow my stare.

"I can't fucking believe he has the nerve to show up." Edward let go of my hand and stormed off towards the entrance of the diner.

"Edward! Come back!" I called after him, trying to grab his arm to pull him back but he was too quick for me. Riley followed us, leaving Victoria behind pouting and calling after him. "Edward!" I called again. He ignored me as he pushed through people.

Jacob of all people had to turn up and ruin everything. Edward stopped in front of him, and if Jacob wasn't so tall they would have been standing face to face. When I finally caught up to them Edward was talking.

"Just leave before anything happens, Jacob." Jake smirked; he looked ridiculous in what looked like a wolf costume.

"Its Halloween for us too you know..." I pushed in front of Edward as Jake spoke.

"Go celebrate it somewhere else Jake, you're not welcome here." I glared at him, and Embry and Jared who were standing behind him; they hadn't bothered to dress up. He looked hurt, and then he smirked again.

"Well, Jessica invited me." I stared in disbelief, Jessica wasn't even invited to the party and she was inviting people?

"Well good for her, maybe she thought you could get her in?" he looked at me, confused.

"She wasn't invited?" I shook my head.

"She hasn't spoken to me properly since we split up and she became BFF's with Lauren." I said Laurens name acidly. He didn't say anything after that, Edward, Riley and I stood there, staring at him.

"Look, I came here because I wanna talk to you Bella." He admitted.

"About?" I raised my eyebrow.

"I was kinda hoping we could talk privately." He looked down at his feet.

"Not gonna happen." both Edward and Riley said in unison. I smiled a little.

"Oh come on Bella, I just wanna talk!" he pleaded. I shook my head.

"I'm pretty sure that whatever you wanna say, you can say it front of these two." I folded my arms and waited for him to answer. He sighed.

"Fine... look I'm so sorry for what I did to you, and I'm sorry that I lied about it. I miss you Bella, you were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I screwed it up. I need you back in my life. Its unbearable without you..." he looked at his feet when he finished talking to me. I stared at him, shocked that he was saying this to me.

"Well you shou-" Riley started, but I put my hand up to stop him.

"Don't..." I paused, unsure how to go on. The music was hurting my ears and I needed fresh air. Without saying another word I walked outside. I walked a little way from the diner, into the car park then turned around to find that all three guys had followed me.

"How dare you Jacob." I said, glaring at him. It was freezing outside; I could feel goose bumps on my skin. "How dare you come here and drop this... this _bomb_ on me." I paused. "You crushed me that night, I was in pieces, tiny little pieces because of you."

"Bella, I'm sorry!" he cried. "I wish I could go back and change what I did but I can't!"

"You know what Jacob Black, I'm not sorry. I'm not one teensy little bit sorry that I found you practically FUCKING Lauren at that stupid party, because it made me realise what a sleazy little scum bag you really are. Did you forget that you've done this to me before? Leah, remember? Yeah, well this time the pleading and the crying won't work on me because life without you is pretty fucking sweet. I have an amazing best friend who drops everything for me and beats the shit out of guys who break my heart. And I have an indescribable boyfriend who wants nothing more than for me to be happy, who doesn't kiss other girls while we're together, who doesn't get people to beat me up because he doesn't get his way, who I'm falling in _love_ with." I paused and took a deep breath. "I'm actually quite glad the way this turned out, because things couldn't be better." I could feel tears coming, tears of pure anger and hatred towards Jacob. "Just get out of my life Jake, and don't ever come back." Edward walked over to me and pulled me into a hug just as I burst into tears.

"Shh, Bella, it's going to be fine." He held me tight against his chest and kissed my hair.

"Did you not fucking understand her?" I heard Riley shout. "Get the fuck outta here, Black. Unless you'd like round 2." He threatened. I heard Jake's heavy footsteps move away from us, and Riley started chuckling. "I was hoping he would stay, I really wanted to hit him again..." I looked up from Edwards's chest, but kept my arms wrapped around him and laughed at Riley. He walked over to us and rubbed his hand up and down my arm.

"We should go back inside, you're freezing" I nodded and unwrapped my arms from around Edwards waist, grabbing hold of his hand.

After Riley found a very unhappy Victoria, Edward and I went back to sit in one of the booths together. He gave me his vampire cape because I was still freezing cold; he also pulled me close to his side and sat with his arm around me.

"So..." he said, playing with my hair. "I'm indescribable?" he cocked his eyebrow. I nodded, and smiled at him.

"Pretty much." I blushed like crazy.

"And you're falling in love with me?" he asked, I nodded again, blushing even more. "Well... that's good cause I think I'm falling in love with you too." he whispered the last part and leaned down and kissed me softly. I put my hands either side of his face and kissed him harder. Once we finished kissing I relaxed back into his side.

"You know what? Fuck it! I'm not falling in love with you, I AM in love with you." I paused, and smiled at him. "I am IN LOVE with you Edward Cullen." I was almost shouting, the people standing near our booth turned to look at me. Edward started laughing at me.

"I'm in love with you too, Isabella Swan." He grabbed me again and kissed me passionately.

**I'm so sorry it's taken so long for this chapter. I started college and I've had a whole bunch of stuff happening. But finally here it is, unfortunately this is the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue that I'm starting right after I post this. As always I wanna know what you amazing people think of this chapter, and the story as a whole, so reviews are more than welcome :D **


	9. Epilogue

**9 Years Later.**

I lay down on the bed in the examination room; Edward sat on the chair next to me. We sat in silence waiting for the doctor to come in, Edward had hold of my hand, his thumb rubbing it slowly; trying to keep me calm. The doctor finally came in, and sat on a stool which was at the end of the bed next to the machinery. I took a deep breath.

"Mr and Mrs Cullen, it's great to see you." She smiled at us, I forced a smile back. She moved around the bed on the stools wheels, dragging the large machine with her. "Okay, Mrs Cullen, I'm going to need you to lift your shirt up." She said. I nodded and pulled my shirt up over my little bump. "This might be a little cold." She warned as she squirted the cold gel on to my stomach. She ran the equipment over my stomach, moving the gel around, and then moved it slower to get the images on the screen. She moved it around then turned the screen to face Edward and me.

"There's your baby." She pointed to the fetus on the screen. I could feel the tears building up even though I'd had a scan before; this was Edwards first time actually seeing our baby. I squeezed his hand. I stared at the screen, and then faced Edward.

"There's our baby. Our little nudger..." I whispered. A single tear slid down Edwards's cheek. That sent me over the edge, and I started crying.

"Are we going to find out the sex?" he asked, trying to hold back the flood of tears I knew was building up inside him. I nodded and turned to face the doctor. She started using the monitor again and after a minute or two she showed us the screen again.

"Congratulations, you're having a baby girl." She smiled at us, and stood up. "I'll leave you guys alone for a little while, I'll be outside if you need anything just press the call button." She walked out of the door and closed it gently behind her.

"A girl! We're having a baby girl!" Edward stood up and leaned over the bed to kiss me. "A GIRL!" he grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialled a number. He looked so excited as he waited for whoever he was ringing to pick up.

"Alice! Are you at mom and dad's house?" he asked "okay, is everyone with you? If they are put me on speaker phone for a moment." He put his phone on speaker aswell, so I could hear. "WE'RE HAVING A BABY GIRL!" he shouted. I laughed at his excitement, then at the screaming and cheering I could hear coming from the phone. I started crying again.

"A girl? Oh Edward!" I heard Esme crying in the background. I could hear Alice screaming and the guys were cheering. After they calmed down a little while, Edward said his goodbyes so I could call Charlie at work. I dialled the station number and patiently waited for him to answer.

"Chief Swan here." He answered with his 'work' phone voice.

"Dad, it's me." I said. "I have something to tell you."

"Bella! Honey what is it? Is everything alright?" he sounded worried immediately.

"Everything's fine... in fact everything is amazing! Dad you're gonna have a granddaughter."

"You... You're...You and Edward...baby...GIRL? YOU'RE HAVING A GIRL?" he bellowed down the phone. "Oh Bella! I'm so happy for you!" I spent the next ten minutes on the phone with Charlie, listening to him tell me how excited and happy he was for us, but then he had to get back to work. The doctor came back in and told us that the examination was over and that we could go.

We walked out of the doctor's office, hand in hand towards to the car. Edward opened my door for me and closed it once I'd slid in. We drove back to Edwards's parent's house where all of Edwards's family were all waiting for us as we pulled into the drive. Alice ran down to the car and yanked my door open, grabbed my hand and helped me out of the car. Before I'd even got my balance her hand was on my bump.

"Hello little baby Alice." She cooed. I laughed her, trying to hold myself up.

"Alice, we haven't named her yet." She stood upright and looked me in the face.

"What do you mean? Her name isn't going to be Alice Rosalie Esme Renee Cullen?" she looked serious. Edward walked around the front of the car and took my hand, squeezing it a little.

"We'll consider it." He chuckled. Alice seemed pleased with his answer and she skipped back towards the house. We slowly walked up towards the house, greeted by Edwards's parents and his brothers. Everyone squeezed through the door and I stopped as soon as I walked through. In the time it took for Edward and I to make our way home, they had decorated the living area with pink ribbons, bows and balloons. There was a banner which said 'It's a girl' on it in delicate writing.

"How did you get this done so fast? We must have been what... 30 minutes?" I asked gobsmacked. Alice started giggling; I should have guessed she'd be behind it all.

"We bought all the stuff when you told us you were pregnant... I couldn't wait, and then when Edward told us that you were having a little Alice... I mean... girl... we put them up!" she blurted out.

"How did you know it would be a girl?" I asked

"We didn't, we got both colours and banners." She giggled.

"Thanks you guys!" They had prepared some sandwiches and drinks on a table in the kitchen. We grabbed some food and sat talking about the baby and preparing our apartment for our little arrival in a few months time.

**6 months later.**

"Edward Anthony Mason Cullen!" I bellowed as I rushed around the side of the bed. I could hear his heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He threw the door open.

"What? Is everything okay?" he rushed over to me; I had hold of the side of the bed, unable to stand up straight.

"My water just broke." I gasped, grabbing hold of his arm. "It's time Edward, she's coming... Renesmee is finally gonna join us!"

"Oh!" he gasped. "Oh oh my gosh, Bella! Wait I'll grab your stuff, just stay there I'll help you downstairs just wait a moment and I'll grab your things." He was freaking out, I could tell, he was talking fast and repeating himself. He ran into the wardrobe and grabbed my hospital bag; he ran back out and grabbed the blanket and pillow from our bed. "Okay, are you Okay Bells? Do you feel okay?"

"I'm good, I just feel a little uncomfortable... let's just get to the hospital Edward." I looked at him, he was sweating, and his eyes were wide. He looked terrified. He grabbed my arm and helped me steady myself and then we made our way downstairs slowly. I hobbled down the hall, I grabbed my coat and bag from the rack and we went out of the front door. As much as I loved being pregnant, I couldn't wait for this to be over. It would be nice to finally see my feet again. As we set off for the hospital I grabbed my phone from inside my bag and dialled the hospital to tell them we would be arriving shortly, after I finished that call I dialled Charlie's number.

"Hey Dad, when you get this message, come down to the hospital... my waters just broke." I paused, unsure what else to leave on the message. "Uh, yeah... see you later." I clicked the phone off and called Edwards parents house.

"Hello?" Alice answered, her voice calmed me.

"Alice, hey it's Bella."

"Oh Bella, Honey! How are you, is everything okay?" she asked.

"Good, I'm good. Listen... my waters just broke, Edward and I are making our way to the hospital." I announced. She started screaming down the phone, I held it a little way from my ear. Edward chuckled. After she stopped screaming I put the phone back to my ear, I could now hear Esme and Carlisle's voices in the background, asking her what the problem was.

"NOTHING, EVERYTHING IS GREAT. BELLAS WATER BROKE. SHES GOING INTO LABOUR. SHES GOING TO HAVE A BABY!" she proudly announced to her audience. I then heard shouting and screaming again, so I held the phone away from my ear; after it had died down again I put it back.

"Listen, just get everyone down to the hospital as soon as they can, tell them not to worry cause it will probably be a little while before she gets here."

"Of course, of course. Listen is there anything you need?" she asked me, suddenly her voice was serious.

"Not that I can think of, but I'll call you if I need anything before you arrive. We're almost there so I'll see you a in a while okay?" she agreed and hung up the phone, I put it back in my bag.

"Are you okay? You seem to be really calm Bells." Edward put one of his hands on my leg. I nodded.

"I don't think its hit me yet what I'm actually going to be doing... trying not to think of it." I replied; taking a deep breath.

"Look, you're going to be fine Bella... I know it; in fact you're going to be amazing. You've been preparing yourself for months, and everyone is going to be there to support you and help look after you once this is over and our little Renesmee will be here finally after all this waiting."

"You're right, I just gotta think of the outcome." I took another deep breath. Edward rubbed my leg and then pulled into the hospital parking lot. He grabbed all of my stuff then came round and helped me out of the car. I waddled my way in through the entrance of the hospital and up to the front desk, Edward in tow.

"Hello" the receptionist said politely. "How can I help?" she asked, smiling.

"I called about 10 minutes ago, Isabella Cullen, my waters broke." I explained. She nodded and typed on her computer, then dialled a number on the phone. Once she finished her call she led us to a room with a bed and a couple of chairs. It was typical hospital colours, calming greens and blues with crisp whites. I hobbled over to the bed and lay myself down, while Edward put my things in the cupboard which was to the side of the bed. He put the pillow he grabbed from our bed behind me, and folded the blanket and put it on the end of the bed ready to be used if I needed it. He pulled one of the chairs closer to the bed and sat with me, one hand on my swelled stomach, the other holding my hand. A short while after we had got settled, Esme, Carlisle and Alice arrived; each of them holding balloons and bags from the gift shop.

"Rose, Jazz and Em will be here later, they couldn't get away from work." Alice explained, she looked shocked to see that nobody else was here. "Didn't you call your dad? Or Riley?"

"Riley! I forgot to call Riley!" I leaned over to the table beside the bed, and found I couldn't stretch too far. Edward grabbed my phone and passed it to me. He told Alice that we left Charlie a message as I called Riley.

"Hello?" Riley answered.

"Riley! Hey it's Bella. My waters broke." I didn't really know how else to say it.

"OH! Oh wow, are you at the hospital already? Is Edward with you? What about Charlie?" I could hear him skittering around his apartment, putting things down and grabbing his keys.

"Yeah, I am, yeah Edwards here, Charlie should be here soon."

"I'm on my way, tell that baby not to come before I get there!" I chuckled as I heard him start his car.

"I'll make sure she gets the message." He hung up as I heard his tires screech as he drove out of his parking lot.

An hour passed before Riley arrived, and my contractions had started. The nurse had asked everybody except for Edward to leave and go wait in the waiting room, but I asked if Riley could stay, and Charlie; when he finally arrived. It took some convincing, but she finally came around and said that only 2 extra people could be here. Riley was so excited that the baby was finally coming, and his and Edwards excitement was what helped my through the contractions as they gradually got worse. Edward didn't let go of my hand since we arrived in the room, and he didn't care when I squeezed it when the contractions came. I was sweating and breathing heavily when I could hear Charlie's voice outside.

"Bella? Where is Bella?" I heard him shouting frantically. He burst in the door, obviously afraid that he had missed the birth. I was taking deep breaths as he came in, pulling through another contraction. Riley stood up as soon as Charlie walked in.

"I'll see you guys later." He said quietly and slipped out of the door. Charlie grabbed my other hand and I squeezed that just as tight as Edward's.

"I don't think I can do this." I panted as another contraction finished.

"Of course you can sweetie, just think of _your daughter._" Charlie said, squeezing my hand back. "Just think how beautiful she's going to be when she's finally here." I relaxed myself a little before the next one could come. The nurse came into us, to check how far along I was with my contractions and she told us that I was dilated enough to be taken to the delivery room. I was terrified; I was sweaty, in pain and terrified. _Oh god, oh good lord what am I doing. _Just as we got into the delivery suite, the contractions started again; this time there was less time between them. My baby was on her way.

Charlie went to get some water, but Edward stayed by my side. He looked at me, my hair stuck to my face; no doubt my face was blotchy and red. I didn't care, and I knew he didn't either. He grabbed a wet cloth and dabbed my head.

"Thank you." I breathed. I looked in his eyes; he'd been quiet since we arrived, speaking only quietly to me, giving me words of encouragement. "Edward are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course I am. Our baby is going to arrive any time now. I'm more then okay Bella, I'm ecstatic!" he smiled, but it wasn't the crooked grin I was so used to. I raised my hand to his face and stroked his cheek with my thumb.

"I love you Edward Cullen." I said, smiling. Suddenly the contractions came again, this time much, much worse. I cried out in pain. Edward shot up out of his seat and pressed the button to call the midwife in.

"Oh god, Edward." I closed my eyes and threw my head back. This hurt more than I ever thought it would. Charlie came rushing in with the midwife, who brought a nurse with her. The midwife started talking but I didn't hear what she was saying. I grabbed Edwards hand again; he stood next to me, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand. I started breathing heavy as the contractions didn't let up. She was coming. My baby girl was on her way...

**13 hours later**

I was exhausted, I was panting and I was sweating like crazy. I could hear crying, and it broke my heart in two. I could feel Edwards hand in mine still. I opened my eyes and he smiled at me.

"You did it Bella, she's finally here." He whispered in my ear.

"I wanna hold her. Where is she?" I turned my head slightly to see a group of nurses surrounding something which was just out of sight. I couldn't see Charlie either. "Where's my dad?" I asked.

"I'm here honey." He said, turning around from the group of nurses. He had something wrapped in a blanket in his arms. He was smiling as he walked over to me and handed me my daughter. She was so tiny; her tiny little face with her tiny nose and tiny mouth. I couldn't help myself, I burst into tears.

"She looks just like you Edward, she... she's... beautiful." He was sitting by the side of the bed, almost crying. I held Renesmee close to my chest, rocking her slightly.

"No way, she looks like you. She has your nose, look!" he leaned closer and stroked her tiny little nose gently. She squirmed as he touched her face, and I couldn't help but laugh. Charlie told us that he was going to tell the others that she was finally here, and nurses left her with us, leaving a crib next to my bed so we could put her in there if we needed to.

We sat quietly just watching her for a little while, until everyone quietly came in. Alice was the first to come in, all but running towards us. She leaned over the bed and looked at Renesmee; then I saw a single tear fall from her eye.

"You guys! Come see her! She's amazing!" she called the others over. Everybody crowded around the bed and started cooing over her. I noticed that Charlie hadn't come back yet. I waited until everyone settled down to ask where he was.

"Uh, he came out to tell us." Riley said. "Then he said he had to go do something." He explained as he sat next to me on the bed, stroking Renesmee's head as she slept in my arms. It was late so everybody left to get some sleep, and Edward and I lay Renesmee in her crib and called the nurse in so she could be taken to the nursery. Edward kissed me and then made a bed up on the sofa which was under the window. After an hour or so, I heard someone whispering outside in the hall, I couldn't quite make out what they were saying but I turned over and tried to get back to sleep. I heard the door click and creak as it was opened. I thought it was just the nurse so I kept my eyes closed and tried to get back to sleep.

"She's sleeping! I'll come back later." I recognised that voice. I turned over and opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness.

"Mom?" I whispered, not wanting to wake Edward up. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I hadn't seen my mum in six years; since she married her husband, Phil.

"Oh Bella, sweetheart." She whispered and walked up to my bed and hugged me. I looked over her shoulder to see Charlie closing the door quietly, smiling to himself.

"What... what are you doing here?" I asked when she pulled out of our embrace.

"Bella, honey... I couldn't miss this day! Even if I am a little late." She kissed me on the cheek and sat down next to me. She asked me all about the pregnancy and the birth. Then she went on to ask me about my wedding day and how everything was going with Edward.

"Right now, everything is pretty much perfect. I am married to an amazing guy who loves me _so much_. And I just had a baby, who after only a few hours has made me love her more than anything in the entire world."

**3 days later.**

Finally we had been allowed to go back home. Edward had to go back to work so I was home alone with Renesmee. I sat on the bed, pillow propped up on the headboard and my legs pulled up with Renesmee resting on them, I held her hands and played with her tiny fingers. She looked just like Edward. The small tufts of hair on her hair were the colour of his. Her eyes were the same shape as his. She was beautiful.

"I hope you know that we're going to love you more than anything in the world" I whispered. "You're more important to me than anything, I promise you. You've not been here long, but I couldn't imagine my _life without you._" I leaned forward and kissed her softly on the forehead.

**And that it you guys! I hope you enjoyed this fanfic, and I hope this ending is alright. I thought of introducing Jacob back into it, but I couldn't fit him anywhere in this beautiful moment without ruining it. Thanks for reviewing if you did! Keep an eye on my page for any new stories if you liked this one ****J**


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